Developing the home-school relationship using digital ... - Futurelab

www.futurelab.org.ukDeveloping the home-school relationshipusing digital technologiesa Futurelab handbookKEY TO THEMESOVERLEAF

Key to themesFuturelab understands that you may havespecific areas of interest and so, in orderto help you to determine the relevance ofeach project or publication to you, we havedeveloped a series of themes (illustrated byicons). These themes are not intended to coverevery aspect of innovation and education and,as such, you should not base your decision onwhether or not to read this publication on thethemes alone. The themes that relate to thispublication appear on the front cover, overleaf,but a key to all of the current themes that weare using can be found below:Digital Inclusion – How the designand use of digital technologies canpromote educational equalityTeachers and Innovations –Innovative practices and resourcesthat enhance learning and teachingAcknowledgementsFirst and foremost I would like to thank thechildren, parents and teachers of St MaryRedcliffe and Temple School and BridgeLearning Campus, Bristol who were generouswith their time in participating in the researchon which this handbook is based. I would alsolike to thank those who participated in expertinterviews: Anne Page, Research Director ofFamily and Parenting Institute; Laurie Day,Ecotec Research; Brenda Bigland, Headteacherof Lent Rise School; Simon Shaw, Becta; RosEdwards, Professor in Social Policy and Directorof the Families & Social Capital ResearchGroup, London South Bank University; KirstieAndrew-Power, Head of Achievement at theSpecialist Schools and Academies Trust; KirstenWeatherby, Education Programme Managerat Microsoft. I would also like to thank MartinHughes, Emeritus Professor of Education,Bristol University, for his valuable insights andconversation during the course of the research.Learning Spaces – Creatingtransformed physical and virtualenvironmentsMobile Learning – Learning on themove, with or without handheldtechnologyLearner Voice – Listening and actingupon the voices of learnersGames and Learning – Using gamesfor learning, with or without gamingtechnologyInformal Learning – Learning thatoccurs when, how and where thelearner chooses, supported by digitaltechnologiesLearning in Families – Children,parents and the extended familylearning with and from one anotherFor more information on our themes pleasego to www.futurelab.org.uk/themesThis handbook is available to download free ofcharge from www.futurelab.org.uk/handbooks.

CONTENTS1. Introduction 042. Research and policy review 123. Strategic considerations 324. Conclusion 585. Online resources 60Lyndsay GrantFuturelab 2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYIn recent years there has been a growingunderstanding of the importance of factorsoutside the immediate school environmentin explaining children’s success in school.At the same time, there has been increasingattention paid to the ways in which children’shome and family cultures are valuable learningenvironments in their own right. How children’sschools relate to and work together with theirhome environments is therefore a criticalsubject for school staff to consider in order tosupport children’s learning in the widest sense.Parental engagement in children’s learning hasseen particular attention from policy-makersand practitioners, as part of a wider drive toimprove children’s achievement and narrowthe gap between children from disadvantagedbackgrounds and their peers. Schools arealso being encouraged and expected to makeinformation and access to learning resourcesavailable online for children and their parents.The availability of a home computer andinternet access is seen as important enoughfor learning that the Home Access initiativeannounced plans to support low incomefamilies to acquire these technologies.The research project on which this handbookis based was situated within the contextoutlined above. It sought to understand theneeds and aspirations of teachers, parentsand children for the home-school relationship,and how the use of digital technologies maysupport as well as raise new issues for homeschoolrelationships.The emphasis on parental engagement, as wellas much work on home-school relationships,has tended to focus on the relationshipbetween parents and children’s schools, butchildren themselves play an active role inmediating between their home and schoolcontexts, making connections between thelearning they do at school and home (or not),and actively facilitating or resisting theirparents’ involvement in their learning. Childrentherefore need to be considered as at the heartof any strategies to support home-schoolrelationships and parents’ engagement inchildren’s learning.Education should equip people to participate inthe world in which they live, to make informedchoices and to have some agency over theirown lives and the lives of the local and globalcommunities of which they are part. Children’slearning is not restricted to the time theyspend in school. Through homework, throughfollowing their own interests and hobbies, andthrough participation in activities with theirfamily and peers they are often engaging inpersonally meaningful learning. Underpinningthis research project therefore is the idea thatchildren need to be able to make meaningfulconnections between their learning in schooland the learning and cultures of their homeenvironments. Education aims to broadenyoung people’s horizons, develop theiraspirations and make new opportunitiesavailable to them – but for these goals to berealistic it first needs to connect with theirlived experiences. Schools need to considerways to bring the knowledges and cultures ofhome into ‘conversation’ with the knowledgesand cultures of school, supporting childrento draw on all the resources available tothem to enable them to become resilient andresourceful learners.The starting point for thinking about homeschoolrelationships needs to adopt a ‘wealth’rather than a ‘deficit’ model. The uniquecontribution of children’s home and familylife needs to be valued and validated, anddeveloped and built on to support children’slearning at home, rather than attempting tointroduce a completely new and alien set ofschool-based requirements on children andtheir families.Negotiating the needs and aspirations ofteachers, parents and children for the homeschoolrelationship is likely to reveal tensionsbetween different groups’ priorities. Teachers,parents and children are not homogenousgroups and each will have different priorities,which need to be acknowledged. A more explicitprocess of negotiation and consultation couldsupport the development of shared expectationsof the respective roles and responsibilities ofteachers, parents and children.2

Supporting the home-school relationshipcannot be seen as an ‘added extra’ to the corebusiness of schools. It is an essential factorin children’s learning and can inform thework of the school on many levels, includinghow the curriculum is taught, pastoral care,extra-curricular development and behaviourstrategies. Given the importance of children’sfamilies and out-of-school lives for theirsuccess within school, embedding home-schoolrelationships as part of a whole-school strategywith strong leadership from senior staff, is likelyto see positive results for children’s learningand achievement within school.This handbook introduces key issues aroundhome-school relationships to provide schoolstaff with a framework in which to considerhow schools can support the home-schoolrelationship, and how to navigate the newopportunities and challenges afforded by theuse of digital technologies in this field. Drawingon in-depth interviews with teachers, parentsand children, illustrated with case studies andexamples, it provides a practical referencepoint through the issues they will needto consider as they develop strategies forsupporting the home-school relationshipusing digital technologies.3

1. INTRODUCTIONThe relationship between home and schoolis a powerful influence on children’s learningand development, which digital technologieshave the capacity to support and enhance. Thishandbook is intended to provide inspirationand guidance that will support educationpractitioners (including school teachers,school staff with a pastoral responsibilityand school leadership who are seeking todevelop strategies and practices using digitaltechnologies) to support positive home-schoolrelationships including developing parents’engagement with children’s learning.Page 01

1.1 WHY IS THEHOME-SCHOOLRELATIONSHIPIMPORTANT FORCHILDREN’SLEARNING?Children’s learning is not restricted to the timethey spend in school; they learn in differentways in a wide range of different contexts,with friends and family at home and in othersettings. Children do not leave the rest of theirlives behind when they enter the school gate:they bring with them values, skills, knowledge,passions and interests from their out-of-schoollives. Similarly, children take their learningfrom school home, continuing with school taskssuch as homework, and applying the lessonsfrom school into a broad range of contextsthey encounter at home and as they engagein the wider world around them. Children’sout-of-school lives provide different kinds ofopportunities and challenges that support andextend their learning experiences. Taking thismore holistic view of children’s ‘learning lives’,it is clear that to support children’s learningin the broadest sense, we need to takeaccount of their lives and learning both inand out of school.INTRODUCTION1.1 WHY IS THE HOME-SCHOOL RELATIONSHIP IMPORTANT FOR CHILDREN’S LEARNING?1Children themselves can and do play an activerole in influencing and facilitating the natureand extent of this relationship and mediatingbetween school and home contexts. Childrenare the key messengers and points of contactbetween school and parents, often taskedwith conveying messages from one settingto another. They are parents’ first source ofinformation about school, and their attitudesand behaviour have a strong influence onthe way in which parents engage with theirschool and their learning in general. Childrenalso have opportunities to draw upon theirknowledge and experience from outsideschool while learning within school, andvice versa. Their active role in this threewayrelationship therefore needs to beacknowledged and explored.5

INTRODUCTION1.2 PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT AND HOME-SCHOOL RELATIONSHIPS11.2 PARENTALENGAGEMENT ANDHOME-SCHOOLRELATIONSHIPSParental engagement in children’s learningat home has been consistently shown to bea significant factor influencing children’sachievement at school, and as such hasreceived significant recent attention fromeducational researchers, policy-makersand school practitioners. However, parentalengagement in children’s learning at hometakes place in the wider context of home-schoolrelationships. Parents’ involvement with schoolmay be a first step towards their engagementwith children’s learning and schools may beable to support this kind of engagementwith learning.A good relationship between home andschool may also be able to reveal some of the‘invisible’ and sometimes informal engagementwith in-school and out-of-school learning thatparents have with children at home.However, the home-school relationship issignificant in itself beyond its role in facilitatingand revealing parents’ engagement in learning.This focus on home-school relationships allowsfor a broader view of how the connections andinteractions between children’s experiencesat home and at school contribute to a widerpicture of their learning. It also provides spaceto focus on children’s roles and experiencesin connecting these overlapping spheres oftheir lives, rather than seeing them simplyas the product of their parents’ and teachers’educational efforts.6

INTRODUCTION1.3 WHAT HAVE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES GOT TO DO WITH HOME-SCHOOL RELATIONSHIPS?11.3 WHAT HAVEDIGITALTECHNOLOGIESGOT TO DO WITHHOME-SCHOOLRELATIONSHIPS?Digital technologies are a familiar and integralpart of many home environments. With manyfamilies routinely using technologies for bothsocial and formal communication, to engagewith commercial and government servicesand for entertainment. Digital communicationtherefore provides an obvious way to enhanceand facilitate communication with parents andprovide access to school information.Within schools, digital technologies are usedto support children’s learning by providingaccess to rich digital media resources,and increasingly, using learning platforms(including virtual or managed learningenvironments – VLEs and MLEs respectively) tohelp children and staff to organise and managelearning and to collect and monitor data onmeasures including progress, attendance andbehaviour. Making these resources transparentand accessible outside school may providefurther opportunities to connect learning withinthe school to learning at home.7

INTRODUCTION1.4 ABOUT THIS HANDBOOK11.4 ABOUT THISHANDBOOKThe relationship between home and school isimportant throughout the time children attendschool. It changes as children grow older andtake a different role in this relationship, and canchange quite significantly when children movefrom primary to secondary school. Secondaryschools are very different institutions toprimary schools and have a different set ofneeds and challenges in supporting homeschoolrelationships. Secondary and primaryschools can and do learn much from oneanother’s strategies, but because of thedifferences between the institutional structuresand the different needs of the children,parents and teachers, it is not easy to providea single set of guidance for both primary andsecondary age children and their institutions.Traditionally, the home-school relationshiphas featured as a more prominent focus withinprimary schools, however secondary schoolsare now increasingly seeking to address thehome-school relationship in order to supportchildren’s learning in its widest sense. Thishandbook, and the research on which it isbased, therefore focuses on the home-schoolrelationship within a secondary school context,although there may be lessons that are alsorelevant for primary schools.This handbook is not a ‘how to’ manual thatgives a single procedure to follow or a one-stopsolution to developing a positive home-schoolrelationship. Every school will have differentpriorities and serves different populations ofchildren and parents who may have differentneeds and aspirations from those served byother schools. The different family, school andcommunity contexts will all have a significantbearing on the needs and aspirations ofteachers, children, parents and families for thehome-school relationship, which means thatthere is no one strategy or technology that willanswer the different needs of all participants.However, there are some common issues andquestions that every school will need to considerfor themselves as they go through the journeyof developing and refining their strategies forsupporting positive home-school relationships.This handbook therefore aims to provide aframework for thinking about the home-schoolrelationship that you can adapt and use in waysthat are appropriate for the particular contextsin which you are working. We hope that thishandbook will provide some ways to thinkabout some of the key issues you are likely toencounter as you develop strategies to supporthome-school relationships, and provide ideas,inspiration and advice on the particular issuesaround using technologies in these strategies.This introduction briefly describes the fieldthat this handbook covers, provides workingdefinitions of key terms, and describes theresearch on which it is based.The background and rationale explores thefield of home-school relationships in moredepth, drawing on previous research literature,and maps out the current policy context.It discusses the potential for technologiesto support home-school relationships andexplores some of the issues raised by usingtechnologies in home-school relationships.This section also considers the argument forinvolving children as active agents within thehome-school relationship.The strategic considerations describe anumber of issues that most schools willneed to address in some way as they developtheir strategies for supporting home-schoolrelationships with technologies. They arenot intended to be prescriptive but to raiseimportant issues that should be considered byeveryone in the context of their own priorities,aims, family, school and community contexts.These considerations have been generatedfrom original research with teachers, childrenand parents at two secondary schools, casestudy reviews of many other schools’ strategiesand practices, interviews with experts in thefield and an analysis of the available researchand practice-based literature.8

Case studies of eight secondary schools whichhave used technologies to support differentaspects of the home-school relationship aredescribed within the strategic considerationssection, in order to illustrate real worldapproaches. They include the schools’ aims,their use of technologies, any problems orbarriers and how they have addressed them,and any indication of the impact of thesestrategies. They are given in order to show whatis currently possible and achievable and toallow other schools to analyse and adapt theseexamples for their own use.There is no one-size-fits-all solution tousing technologies to support home-schoolrelationships. The strategies that schoolsadopt, and therefore the ways in whichtechnologies will be deployed, will dependupon the priorities, needs and aspirationsof the particular school and its communityof students and families. The case studiespresented here are from forward-thinkingschools using technologies in innovative andthoughtful ways. However these examples willnot necessarily be appropriate for all schools orbe able to be transferred unproblematically toanother school. They should therefore be seenas starting points for thinking about what mightbe possible, and adapted to the particular localcontexts in which schools find themselves.1The tools and resources section providesa list of selected useful resources thatcan help you develop your own strategiesfor using technologies to support homeschoolrelationships.Further reading suggestions are providedfor those who are interested to follow upin more detail the theories and researchunderpinning the ideas and guidancepresented in this handbook.INTRODUCTION1.4 ABOUT THIS HANDBOOK9

1.5 HOW THISHANDBOOK WASDEVELOPEDThis handbook draws together a range ofrelevant resources and evidence, synthesisingbackground policy and research with originalempirical research findings to produce specificguidance for educators.The study therefore aimed to:_ explore the role of the learner in mediatinghome-school relationships, how this couldenhance their learning and how digitaltechnologies may support learners inthis role,_ explore and understand children’s, parents’and teachers’ perceptions about theboundaries and relationships betweenin-school and out-of-school learning,INTRODUCTION1.5 HOW THIS HANDBOOK WAS DEVELOPED1Relevant policy initiatives were reviewed andresearch into home-school relationships,digital technologies and parental engagementwas analysed to provide a guiding context forthe study, informing the focus and approachestaken. This review of published material wassupplemented by interviews with severalexperts in the field, including a headteacher,researchers and policy-makers to ensure thatrecent developments in research, practice andpolicy were also able to inform the study.Original research was conducted with twosecondary schools in Bristol, working withchildren, parents and teachers during thesummer and autumn of 2009. A review ofprevious research identified that the learner’srole was significant in parental engagementand that young people actively navigate theirown transitions between home and school.However, the role of young people in homeschoolrelationships has been given relativelylittle attention in research, so this study aimedto foreground their role and experience in thehome-school relationship. Given the increasinguse of digital technologies in both educationand home life, this study was particularlyconcerned with exploring the ways in whichdigital technologies open up new opportunities,but may also provide new challenges, forschools, children and their families indeveloping home-school relationships._ explore the opportunities and challengespresented by the use of digital technologiesto support home-school relationships.In-depth qualitative focus group interviewsand idea development workshops were heldwith groups of children, parents and teachersboth separately and together, identifying whatparticipants wanted to achieve from the homeschoolrelationship and their challenges, needsand ideas for using technologies to support therelationship between home and school. Theapproach taken was intended to allow teachers,children and parents to all be able to have theirvoices heard, and to begin to negotiate thedifferent views and opinions that arose betweenthem. Transcripts and outputs from these focusgroup interviews and workshops were analysedto obtain themes significant in the context ofthe aims of the research.Finally, a number of schools engaging inleading practice using technologies to supporthome-school relationships or parentalengagement were identified. Descriptions ofthese schools’ practice, and any benefits theyhave experienced are included as short casestudies in order to detail the current state ofpractice and provide inspiration on practicalmeasures for using technologies to support thehome-school relationship.10

INTRODUCTION1.5 HOW THIS HANDBOOK WAS DEVELOPED1The research and policy literature, interviews,case studies and empirical research evidencehave been analysed in reference to one anotherto develop a coherent set of themes thatunderpin the guidance given in this handbook.A note on ‘parents’Throughout this handbook the word ‘parent’is used to mean anyone in a parentingrelationship with a child. This is intended toinclude non-resident parents, step-parents,adoptive and foster parents, grandparents,other family members who take a parentingrole and any other carers.11

2. RESEARCH ANDPOLICY REVIEWAbout this reviewThis section describes and analyses currentresearch evidence pertinent to the issuesaround home-school relationships andparental engagement. It summarisesrelevant research in this field and providesan introduction to the central issues anddebates. It concludes by making a case forconsidering the implications of home-schoolrelationships for children’s learning in thewidest sense, both in and out of school, and forthe acknowledgement of children’s central andactive role in that relationship.Page 01

2.1 POLICY CONTEXTParental engagement in children’s learning iscurrently a high priority for schools’ policy. The“21st century schools” white paper confirmsthis with the proposal of a ‘Parent Guarantee’that cements an expectation that parents willbe involved in their children’s education throughunderstanding their child’s learning prioritiesand needs, understanding their responsibilitiesto help their child progress, as well as receivinginformation from school about their child’sprogress and any additional needs andspecial provision.Digital technologies are heavily implicatedin policies that seek to connect home andschool and raise parental engagement, seenin the Home Access initiative and OnlineReporting expectations.The Home Access initiative aims to removethe barriers to using computer and internettechnologies to support children’s learning athome, by providing financial support for thosewho need it and campaigning to promote thebenefits of technologies for learning to familieswho choose not to buy or use technologies tosupport learning. Home Access to computersis thought to be able to improve parentalengagement and strengthen home-school linksby providing opportunities to use technologies tosupport learning in the home, providing a meansof communication between school and homeand access to school resources via learningplatforms or websites. Low income families inEngland can apply for grants to buy a computerand internet package from a range of suppliers.Packages include service and support, ane-safety guide and pre-set parental controls tofilter content, as well as office and anti-virussoftware. It is hoped that the Home Accessscheme will, amongst other benefits,see improved learning for children andincreased involvement of parents in theirchildren’s learning.An evaluation of the Home Access pilotstudy found that learners used Home Accesscomputers for a wide range of purposesincluding education, entertainment andfinance, appreciated the greater flexibility andindependence of using home computers for theirschoolwork and having a ‘level playing field’ withtheir peers. The majority of parents in the pilotstudy (81%) also reported that they felt moreinvolved with their child’s learning, with parentsmainly using the Home Access computer to lookat school websites 1 .The Online Reporting expectations will seeparents in England given online access toinformation about children’s attainment,attendance, behaviour and special needs by 2010(for secondary) and 2012 (for primary). OnlineReporting is seen as an integral part of widerstrategies to support parental engagement andgood home-school relationships, not just partof the reporting and accountability frameworks.Providing meaningful and timely informationto parents is thought to support parents tohave conversations with children about theirlearning, have information that enables them tosupport children’s learning, be better informedand prepared for face-to-face meetings withschool staff, and be able to work more closely inpartnership with their children’s schools 2 .Taken together, these policies and provisionindicate a move towards more extensive andexplicit expectations for parents to be involvedwith children’s schools and engaged in theirlearning. The direction of policy is also one inwhich parents are seen as playing a significantrole in school improvement, through raisingparents’ expectations of schools, makingschools more accountable to parents, withparents influencing schools through greaterinvolvement and by exercising choice aboutthe kind of education they want for theirchildren. The overall aims of this policy directionare to raise educational achievement for allchildren and to ‘narrow the gap’ in achievementbetween children from disadvantagedbackgrounds and their peers.RESEARCH AND POLICY REVIEW2.1 POLICY CONTEXT21. See www.homeaccess.org.uk for up-to-date information about the scheme including how to apply for grants. See also Parashar, Uand Jewitt, C (2009). Technology and learning at home: Findings from the evaluation of the Home Access Programme Pilotevents.becta.org.uk/content_files/corporate/resources/events/2009/november/3extending_learning.ppt for findings from theHome Access pilot evaluation (it is the third presentation in this package).2. In January 2008, Jim Knight, Secretary of State for Schools and Learners, sent a letter to school heads and chairs of governorssetting out the expectations and intentions behind the online reporting requirements, which can be read online at:www.teachernet.gov.uk/_doc/12680/Final online reporting letter online.doc. For more background on the anticipated benefitsand rational behind online reporting see also Becta (2008) Exploiting ICT to improve parental engagement, moving towards onlinereporting. Coventry: Becta. Available from: publications.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=38170.13

2.2 PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT AND LEARNINGIN THE FAMILYParental engagement inchildren’s learningParental engagement in children’s learninghas been the subject of sustained internationalresearch for many years. Here, the core findingsfrom some of the key studies are summarised 3 .RESEARCH AND POLICY REVIEW2.2 PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT AND LEARNING IN THE FAMILY2Research consistently shows parentalengagement in children’s learning at home is asignificant factor in children’s achievement atschool. Parents’ engagement with what childrenare learning at school both requires and is anexpression of a relationship between home andschool, and while it is important to understandthat parental engagement and home-schoolrelationships are not synonyms for one another,it is a key issue in home-school relationships.This section gives an overview of anddiscusses some of the key issues pertainingto parental engagement._ Parental involvement at home has asignificant positive impact on children’sachievement and is a more significant factorin predicting children’s achievement thansocial class or school factors._ Increasing parental engagement – particularlyfor parents the school finds ‘hard to reach’ –is associated with improved attendance andbehaviour as well as achievement._ Parents’ engagement with children’s learningat home occurs when parents show aninterest in their children’s education withinthe parent-child relationship, talk aboutlearning with their children, model higheducational aspirations and successful socialand emotional approaches and demonstratetheir educational values to children. This mayaffect their achievement because children’smotivation, self-esteem, educationalaspirations and perception of themselves assuccessful learners are influenced by thisengagement from their parents in the home._ Parental involvement with school activitieshas little impact on children’s achievementwhere it is not directly connected tolearning activities._ Schools that are successful in supportingparents’ engagement with children’s learningconsistently demonstrate and reinforce anapproach that ‘parents matter’, developing atwo-way relationship with parents based onmutual trust, respect and a commitment toimproving learning outcomes.143. These points are largely drawn from the influential analyses and studies by Desforges, C with Abouchaar, A (2003). The Impact ofParental Involvement, Parental Support and Family Education on Pupil Achievements and Adjustment: A Literature Review. DfES.(Research report no. 433), Harris, A and Goodall, J (2008). Do parents know they matter? Engaging all parents in learning. EducationalResearch, 50,3: 277-289 and Harris, A and Goodall, J (2009). Do Parents Know They Matter? Raising Achievement Through ParentalEngagement. London: Network Continuum Education. For specific discussion of the use of technology in parental engagement see thefollowing: Somekh, B, Lewin, C and Mavers, D (2002). Using ICT to Enhance Home School Links: an Evaluation of Current practice inEngland. DfES/Becta. Available from: partners.becta.org.uk/upload-dir/downloads/page_documents/research/ngflseries_hsl1.pdf,Grant, L (2008). Learning in Families: A review of research evidence and the current landscape of Learning in Families with digitaltechnologies. Bristol: Futurelab. Available at: www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/project_reports/becta/Learning_in_Families_educators_report.pdf, and Hollingworth, S, Allen, K, Kuyok, AK, Mansaray, A and Page, A (2009). An exploration of parents’engagement with their children’s learning involving technologies and the impact of this in their family learning experiences. Becta.Available from: partners.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=rh&catcode=_re_mr_02&rid=17152

Parents helping children learnParental involvement in school activities, suchas on the PTA or volunteering in school trips isdistinguished from engagement with children’slearning at home, with the latter being a strongpredictive factor for children’s achievement whilethe former confers few benefits for the child 4 .However, this distinction should not be overemphasised:involvement with school activitiesmay lead to engagement with learning, and canalso be a way in which parents communicatetheir educational values and positive attitudestowards learning to their children.Supporting children’s school learningFor many schools and parents, homework is themost obvious occasion in which parents engagewith their children’s school learning and is themost common way for parents of secondaryschool aged children. Both children and parentscan find parents helping with or ‘enforcing’homework difficult as it can be a source oftension in their relationship and can displaceother family activities including more informallearning opportunities 5 . Parents generallybecome less involved with children’s schoolworkas they get older, only getting involved wherethey perceive a problem and otherwise not‘interfering’ with the teacher’s job 6 .Parents often report that they feel unableto help with children’s school learning orhomework because they do not know enoughabout the curriculum or modern teachingmethods. Parents who use different methods tothose taught in school often find trying to helptheir children learn a frustrating experience,especially where their personal attitudes orcultures place a strong emphasis on parentalauthority and expertise. They can feel humiliatedwhen they perceive themselves as lacking theskills or knowledge that children are beingtaught in school, and parents can feel their ownmethods are inadequate.As well as direct help with school work, parentsalso support children’s school learning throughhelping children make choices about theireducation, through providing encouragementto persevere and giving emotional support tochildren to help them believe they can succeedwith education 7 .Schools can play a role in supporting parentsto engage with their children’s learning inthe home. The ‘Learning at home, learning atschool’ project found that schools working inpartnership with other agencies such as adultand family learning providers were able to helpparents develop their skills to support theirchildren’s learning through joint parent-childactivities within the school, and through givingparents ideas for activities that they were ableto adapt within the home environment. Onecrucial factor for success in helping parentsengage in their children’s learning was theintegration of a parental engagement strategythroughout the whole school – including withinthe formal curriculum 8 .Technologies to help parents supportchildren’s learningLearning platforms, otherwise known as VLEs(Virtual Learning Environments) or MLEs(Managed Learning Environments), can make itpossible for parents to view children’s reports,attendance and assessment scores online.Learning platforms can also allow parents toaccess children’s school work and help withschool activities, and can be used to provideparents with tools to support children’s learning.RESEARCH AND POLICY REVIEW2.2 PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT AND LEARNING IN THE FAMILY24. Harris, A and Goodall, J (2008). Do parents know they matter? Engaging all parents in learning. Educational Research, 50,3: 277­289; Harris, A and Goodall, J (2009). Do Parents Know They Matter? Raising Achievement Through Parental Engagement. London:Network Continuum Education.5. Opinion Leader (2009). Time to Talk: Parents as Partners. Deliberative Event Research Report. DCSF Research Report 110.6. Page, A, Das, S, Mangabeira, W and Natale, L (2009). School-Parent Partnerships: Emerging Strategies to Promote Innovation inSchools. Family and Parenting Institute.7. Page, A, Das, S, Mangabeira, W and Natale, L (2009). School-Parent Partnerships: Emerging Strategies to Promote Innovation inSchools. Family and Parenting Institute.8. Day, L, Williams, J and Fox, J (2009). Supporting parents with their children’s ‘at home’ learning and development (Research ReportDCSF-RR138). DCSF.15

A typology of learning in families withdigital technologiesShoutbox:making informal learning visibleRESEARCH AND POLICY REVIEW2.2 PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT AND LEARNING IN THE FAMILY2This typology includes parents and childrenlearning together and from one another 19 .1. Supporting children’s formal learningFor example, parents accessing onlineinformation about their child’s school andprogress, and support to help their child withlearning and making educational choices.2. Family learning for pleasureFor example, going to a museum and usinghandheld audio guides to interact withcharacters from the past.3. Supporting children’s personal, social,emotional and life skillsFor example, parents talking to childrenabout how to manage risks andopportunities online.4. Participation and acculturation infamily lifeFor example, through playing computergames together, a family share their valuesand learn how to manage competitiveness.5. Developing adult basic skillsFor example, parents and children mayparticipate in family learning to developliteracy or numeracy skills, using onlineresources.The ‘ShoutBox’ research project explored theuse of technologies to make learning outsideschool more visible to teachers. While youngpeople were able to use mobile and videotechnologies to capture their out-of-schoollearning experiences, they needed significantsupport to recognise the learning benefits fromtheir experiences and did not expect teachersto be interested. They were also concerned thatif they were to share their experiences withteachers and others, that it should be in a safeand constructive space. Schools and teacherswould need to actively consult with and promptchildren and parents in order to understand thelearning they engage in out-of-school 20 .6. Enhancing family relationshipsFor example, accessing parenting supportnetworks and advice online.1819. For a poster illustrating learning scenarios using this typology as well as the research on which it is based,see www.futurelab.org.uk/projects/learning-in-families20. Mobile Pie / Futurelab (2008). ShoutBox: A mobile/web tool to support and showcase informal (out-of-school) learning. Availablefrom: www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/project_reports/ShoutBox_report.pdf

CHAPTER RESEARCH TITTLE AND POLICY HERE REVIEWCHAPTER 2.2 PARENTAL SUB-TITTLE ENGAGEMENT HERE AND LEARNING IN THE FAMILY2 ?19

2.3 PARENTS’ ROLESParents’ role in directly engaging in theirchildren’s learning is only one of a range ofroles they take on in relation to children’seducation and, increasingly, parents arepositioned as ‘partners’ alongside schools ina joint enterprise of educating children. Aswell as being engaged in children’s learning,then, parents may also be involved in makingdecisions and choices about children’sschooling, working within the school,communication about school events andsharing information between schooland home 21 .However, there are big differences in parents’role construction. Some parents, particularlyparents from lower socio-economic groups,are more likely to trust the school to providefor children’s learning needs and do not seethe need or feel able to involve themselves 24 .Teachers also have their own expectationsof parents, which are not always explicitlycommunicated. When teachers and parentshave different underlying expectations aboutparents’ roles, for example parents andteachers have sometimes been found to havevery different expectations for how parentsshould support children with their homework, itcan lead to tension and conflict between homeand school 25 .RESEARCH AND POLICY REVIEW2.3 PARENTS’ ROLES2Parents’ role constructionAll parents have different views aboutthe nature and extent of their personalresponsibility for their children’s learning.Parents’ ‘role construction’ describes theactivities that parents consider to be theirresponsibility, and is influenced by their ownexperience of education and their expectationsof others’ responsibilities 22 . Parents’ roleconstruction will influence, for example, theextent to which they become involved withchildren’s homework, or with their children’sschool life and learning more generally.Nearly all parents highly value their children’seducation, and most want some involvement,with 70% wanting to be more involved than theycurrently are and over 50% believing they haveequal responsibility with the school for their children’s education 23 . Parents as partnersIn seeing parents as partners, schools andpolicy-makers acknowledge a sharing ofresponsibility for children’s education 26 .However, the terms of the partnership areoften defined by schools, with parents’ views,needs and concerns given little weight 27 . TheHome-School Knowledge Exchange projectfound that most of the communication betweenhome and school was ‘one-way traffic’, with fewmechanisms to discover parents’ concerns 28 .This one-way communication has been shownin Sure Start Children’s Centres to havenegative effects on parental involvement as itfails to establish a personal and meaningfulrelationship that respects parents’ knowledgeand input, and was seen as a barrier by bothparents and professionals 29 .2021. Parental engagement in children’s learning is seen as both supported by and a central part of a ‘partnership’ between parentsand schools, see Page, A, Das, S, Mangabeira, W and Natale, L (2009). School-Parent Partnerships: Emerging Strategies to PromoteInnovation in Schools. Family and Parenting Institute.22. Deslandes, R and Rousseau, N (2007). Congruence between teachers’ and parents’ role construction and expectations about theirinvolvement in homework. International Journal about Parents in Education, 1,0: 108-11623. Reynolds, J (2005). Parents’ involvement in their children’s learning and schools: How should their responsibilities relate to thoseof the state? London: National Family and Parenting Institute, Peters, M, Seeds, K, Goldstein, A and Coleman, N (2008). Parentalinvolvement in children’s education 2007. DCSF Research report DCSF-RR034.www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/DCSF-RR034.pdf24. Crozier, G and Davies, J (2007). Hard to reach parents or hard to reach schools? A discussion of home-school relations, withparticular reference to Bangladeshi and Pakistani parents. British Educational Research Journal, 33,3: 295-31325. Deslandes, R and Rousseau, N (2007). Congruence between teachers’ and parents’ role construction and expectations about theirinvolvement in homework. International Journal about Parents in Education, 1,0: 108-11626. The reform of Home-School Agreements and implementation of Parent and Pupil Guarantees and a Parent Report Card underlieand plan to give legal power to the parent-school partnership (DCSF (2009). Your child, your schools, our future: building a 21 st centuryschools system. Available from: publications.dcsf.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/21st_Century_Schools.pdf).27. Alldred, P, David, M and Edwards, R (2002). Minding the gap: Children and young people negotiating relations between home andschool. In R Edwards (ed), Children, Home and School: Regulation, Autonomy or Connection? London and New York: Routledge, 106-120.28. Hughes, M and Greenhough, P (2006). Boxes, bags and videotape: enhancing home-school communication through knowledgeexchange activities. Educational Review - Special Issue, 58,4: 471-48729. Sure Start (2007). Parents as Partners in Early Learning (PPEL) Project: Parental involvement – a snapshot of policy and practice.PPEL Proejct Phase 1 report. London: Sure Start.

CHAPTER RESEARCH TITTLE AND POLICY HERE REVIEWCHAPTER 2.3 PARENTS’ SUB-TITTLE ROLES HERE2 ?Technologies in parent-school partnershipsMany parents say that they hear very littleabout their child’s experiences at school fromchildren themselves and would welcomethe use of text messages and emails tocommunicate with them more frequently 30 .Some schools are beginning to explorenew ways of using digital technologies tocommunicate and build partnerships withparents, for example, using Learning Platformsto consult with parents and sending textmessages about children’s attendance andprogress 31 . While technologies may play a rolein enhancing communication between homeand school, it is important to recognise thatdifferent technologies may be more suitable forsome types of communication than others.The concepts of ‘thick’ and ‘thin’communication can be used to distinguishbetween different types of communication.Thick and thin kinds of communication arenot necessarily good or bad, but they maybe more or less appropriate for particularcontexts. Parents appreciate the flexible andless demanding thin communication of textmessages where the message is simple andunambiguous, but for more complex matters,thick communication may be more appropriate.30. Byron, T (2009). The “Oh, Nothing Much” Report: The value of after-school conversation. Coventry: Becta.nextgenerationlearning.org.uk/Global/The%20Oh%20Nothing%20Much%20report%20-%2023.03.09.pdf; see also Populus –Geronimo (2008). Poll of parents: Executive summary. Available from:schools.becta.org.uk/upload-dir/downloads/poll_of_parents_executive_summary.pdf31. See case studies from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust ICT Register at www.ict-register.net/pe-schools.php and fromMicrosoft at innovativeschoolsonline.com/casestudies/default.aspx21

RESEARCH AND POLICY REVIEW2.3 PARENTS’ ROLES2Thick and thin communicationThere are four key elements in thick and thincommunication: synchronicity, personalisation,complexity and directionality 32 .Thick communication requires greater time andresource investment and is:_ synchronous – real time interaction such astelephone or face to face conversations_ personal – the content of the message isspecific to an individual child or parent_ complex – there may be several differentinter-relating aspects to discuss_ multi-directional – communication may goback and forth between teachers, parentsand students.Thin communication is flexible, fast andless demanding:_ asynchronous – there is a delay ininteraction, for example emails_ generic – the message is generic to allchildren or parents in a group, such asa newsletter_ simple – the content of the message is easilycommunicated, for example by text message_ one-way – communication travels fromschool to home and does not require orinvite a reply.Parents as providersOne key debate in the parental engagementagenda is around the extent to which parentsare seen as educational providers themselves,expected to develop their pedagogicalknowledge and take on teaching roles athome. Some research studies have shownthat the expectation that parents can takeon such teaching roles underestimates theprofessional skills required in teaching, andparents themselves can feel uneasy aboutbeing required to work in ‘teacherly’ ways withtheir children 33 .Some digital resources that are provided forparents to use with their children at homeappear to have been designed on a pedagogicmodel more suited to the classroom thanthe daily routines and practices of family life.The role of the adult suggested by some suchresources is a didactic role rather than amore open-ended role that builds on parents’intimate relationships with children 34 .2232. This typology was developed from a research study involving parents in discussing digital communication between home and school.For the report of the full study see Hollingworth, S, Allen, K, Kuyok, AK, Mansaray, A and Page, A (2009). An exploration of parents’engagement with their children’s learning involving technologies and the impact of this in their family learning experiences. Becta.Available from: partners.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=rh&catcode=_re_mr_02&rid=17152.33. Edwards, A and Warin, J (1999). Parental Involvement in Raising the Achievement of Primary School Pupils: Why Bother? OxfordReview of Education, 25,3: 325-341, see also Alldred, P, David, M and Edwards, R (2002) Minding the gap: Children and young peoplenegotiating relations between home and school. In R Edwards (ed) Children, Home and School: Regulation, Autonomy or Connection?London and New York: Routledge, 106-12034. For how some digital educational resources for use at home imply a didactic parental role see Eagle, S (2008). How might research onfamily reading practices inform the design of interactive digital resources for pre-school children? In Eagle, S, Manches, A, O’Malley, C,Plowman, L, Sutherland, R, Perspectives on early years and digital technologies. Bristol: Futurelab. Available at:www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/publications-reports-articles/opening-education-reports/Opening-Education-Report1141

‘Hard to reach’ parentsParents who do not come into school are oftentermed ‘hard to reach’. However, from theparents’ point of view it is often the school thatis hard to reach 35 . Those parents deemed ‘hardto reach’ are not a homogenous group and it isimportant to remember that different strategiesare likely to be needed to meet the needs ofdiverse groups of parents and a one-size-fitsallmodel is unlikely to be effective 36 .Some of the discourse around ‘uninvolved’parents focuses on the fact they may nothave the necessary skills or knowledge tosupport their children’s learning, and sorequire support themselves. However, startingwith such a deficit model of parenting can bedisempowering for parents and may alienateparents from engaging with the school 37 .The ‘Learning at home, Learning at school’study found that the activities that were mostsuccessful in supporting parents to engagewith children’s learning at home were thosewhich took a ‘wealth’ rather than a ‘deficit’model. This meant validating parents’ existingknowledge and skills for supporting theirchild, building on existing positive interactionsbetween parent and child and giving parentsideas for activities that they could adopt andadapt to suit their family life, rather than askingthem to adopt completely new activities thathad to be carried out wholesale or not at all 38 .CHAPTER RESEARCH TITTLE AND POLICY HERE REVIEWCHAPTER 2.3 PARENTS’ SUB-TITTLE ROLES HERE2 ?Barriers to parental engagement andparent-school partnershipsThere are a number of practical barriersthat parents face in engaging with children’slearning and communicating with schools,with time to help with homework or meetteachers often cited as a major barrier, withworking parents, fathers and lone parentsmore likely to see this as a problem 39 .Childcare, work commitments and transportarrangements are also described by parentsas significant barriers.Communication difficulties between parentsand teachers can present barriers. This caninclude parents for whom English is not theirfirst language, parents with disabilities, thosewho feel that they do not have the ‘right’vocabulary to speak to teachers, and thoseparents with literacy difficulties who found itdifficult to understand the way that informationwas communicated to them 40 .35. Crozier, G and Davies, J (2007). Hard to reach parents or hard to reach schools? A discussion of home-school relations, withparticular reference to Bangladeshi and Pakistani parents. British Educational Research Journal, 33,3: 295-31336. Smit, F, Driessen, G, Sluiter, R and Sleegers, P (2007). Types of parents and school strategies aimed at the creation of effectivepartnerships. International Journal about Parents in Education, 0: 45-52.37. Edwards, A and Warin, J (1999). Parental Involvement in Raising the Achievement of Primary School Pupils: Why Bother? OxfordReview of Education, 25,3: 325-34138. Day, L, Williams, J and Fox, J (2009). Supporting parents with their children’s ‘at home’ learning and development (Research ReportDCSF-RR138). DCSF.39. Owen, R, Thomas, A and Joyce, L (2008). Engaging Parents in their Children’s Learning. GTCE / BMRB. Available from:www.gtce.org.uk/shared/contentlibs/126795/93128/120213/parent_engage_learning_jul08.pdf, see also Grant (2009).40. Harris, A and Goodall, J (2008). Do parents know they matter? Engaging all parents in learning. Educational Research, 50,3: 277­289, and Harris, A and Goodall, J (2009). Do Parents Know They Matter? Raising Achievement Through Parental Engagement. London:Network Continuum Education.23

RESEARCH AND POLICY REVIEW2.4 CONNECTING HOME AND SCHOOL CULTURES22.4 CONNECTINGHOME AND SCHOOLCULTURESParents’ involvement in children’s schoollives and learning is a crucial factor in therelationship between home and school.However to more fully understand therelationship between home and school andthe context and constraints on parents’engagement with children’s learning, weneed to consider how the cultures of homeand school relate to one another. Home is notonly a physical place, but a social constructthat encompasses the family’s routines andstructures. So home-school relationships arenot just about linking one geographic settingwith another, but about negotiating thedifferent social and cultural constructs ofhome and school.Learning at school can be seen as increasinglydisconnected from children’s lives, culturesand learning experiences outside school. Thiscan be especially true for children whose homecultures are particularly different to schoolcultures, including working class familiesand families from some ethnic minoritybackgrounds 41 . If education aims to helpchildren develop and take up responsibilitieswithin their community, and to be perceivedby children as meaningful, then it needs tohave some relevance to children’s lives outsideschool 42 . As well as connecting to children’slives as they experience them, education alsoneeds to connect to children’s aspirations fortheir future lives, and many would argue thateducation therefore also needs to offer childrenhigher and broader aspirations for their futuresthen they bring with them to school 43 . However,if these extended aspirations are completelydisconnected from children’s current lives, theymay be seen as distant and unachievable.This section therefore explores the nature ofthe connections between children’s home andschool cultures in order to provide a biggerpicture of the relative contributions of, andrelationship between home and school.Transitions between home andschool culturesChildren’s transitions from home to schoolinvolve a change in identity from the child athome to the pupil in the classroom. There maybe continuity or discontinuity between thesetwo identities depending on how appropriatechildren’s behaviour from one setting isin another, and the consistency of adults’responses to children’s behaviour. When thereis discontinuity, children face a task of adaptingto the new contexts they are faced with 44 .Particular ways of knowing and learning areembedded in social and cultural practices.When the practices of ‘knowing’ in home andschool are very different, learners’ successfulexperiences of learning at home may notfacilitate learning at school. For example, inAustralia, Aboriginal practices of knowingare more communal, and children can findthemselves told off for ‘cheating’ when helpingeach other in the more individualised learningparadigm of the classroom 45 . However,attempts to teach parents to interact with theirchildren in more ‘school-like’ ways can giverise to conflict and tension that can actuallyreinforce rather than overcome inequalities 46 .2441. Maddock, M (2006). Children’s personal learning agendas at home. Cambridge Journal of Education, 36,2: 153-16942. Article 29 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child specifies that children should experience the kind of education whichhelps them develop and take up responsibilities within the community. See www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf.43. See, for example, Cabinet Office (2008). Aspiration and attainment amongst young people in deprived communities: Analysis anddiscussion paper. Available from: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/social_exclusion_task_force/short_studies/aspirations.aspx44. Lam, MS and Pollard, A (2006). A conceptual framework for understanding children as agents in the transition from home tokindergarten. Early Years, 26,2: 123-14145. Maddock, M (2006). Children’s personal learning agendas at home. Cambridge Journal of Education, 36,2: 153-16946. Alldred, P, David, M and Edwards, R (2002). Minding the gap: Children and young people negotiating relations between home andschool. In R Edwards (ed), Children, Home and School: Regulation, Autonomy or Connection? London and New York: Routledge: 106-120.

Third spaces and funds of knowledgeRather than attempt to integrate home andschool cultures or encourage homes to adoptschool cultures, third space theories have beenapplied to attempts to create spaces in whichaspects of the two different cultures of schooland home can come into ‘conversation’ withone another 47 . It is hoped that this approachcan make school learning experiences moremeaningful and accessible to children byconnecting them with the cultures and contextschildren are familiar with and interested inoutside school 48 .Third space theories see children as possessing‘funds of knowledge’, acquired throughparticipation in the daily life of their familiesand communities, and essential for everydayfunctioning and wellbeing within thosecommunities. Because different communitieshave different social and cultural practices, theywill give rise to different funds of knowledge.Teachers also draw on the funds of knowledgethey develop through participation in theirown communities and professional practice 49 .Children’s funds of knowledge, developedwithin their families and communities, can bemarginalised within a school discourse. Theidea of ‘third spaces’ describes the merging ofthe informal ‘first space’ of home, communityand peers with the more formal ‘second space’of school or work. Integrating the differentfunds of knowledge from school and home toform a third space that values both discoursescan be seen as helping children successfullynavigate between and build bridges fromthe sometimes marginalised knowledgepractices of children’s homes to the moreconventional academic knowledge of school.This perspective sees children as having accessto multiple funds of knowledge from home andschool that they can draw on in their learning– and that by helping children draw on all theresources at their disposal, they are likely to bemore successful learners.By bringing the different funds of knowledge ofhome and school into ‘conversation’ with oneanother, both home and school knowledges canbe challenged and reshaped, potentially givingrise to new knowledges. Children, as they getolder and develop more independence, can beseen as carving out their own peer culturalspaces between the more settled spaces ofhome and school, for example hanging outtogether outside or online. Digital technologiesin fact may offer opportunities for children tocreate their own virtual third spaces that cantravel between home and school and wherethey can draw on and reshape their funds ofknowledge from both home and school 50 .In a recent study, some young children’semerging conceptions of themselves as readersgenerated at home – as people who enjoybooks, can understand and make meaningfrom a range of texts including pictures,websites and games – were undermined bytheir perception that being a reader in schoolwas about being able to decode printed words.Some children were able to bring togetheraspects of both their home and schoolperceptions of being a reader that reshapedboth their school reading practices and thereading practices of their everyday lives,generating the new knowledge and third spacedescribed above. However, other childrenadopted what they perceived to be the school’sdefinition of being a reader, and relinquishedthe idea that their home reading practices werevalid 51 . These same arguments are likely to alsoapply to children’s conceptions of themselvesas ‘learners’, with educators needing tofacilitate space in school for children’s ownideas of what it is to be a learner to coexist withschool discourses.CHAPTER RESEARCH TITTLE AND POLICY HERE REVIEWCHAPTER 2.4 CONNECTING SUB-TITTLE HOME HERE AND SCHOOL CULTURES2 ?47. Levy, R (2008). ‘Third spaces’ are interesting places: applying ‘third space theory’ to nursery-aged children’s constructions ofthemselves as readers. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 8,1: 43-6648. For two examples of projects that attempt to create such third spaces, see the Home School Knowledge Exchange project atwww.tlrp.org/proj/phase11/phase2e.html49. For more discussion of the concept of Funds of Knowledge see Moll, L, and Greenberg, J (1990). Creating zones of possibilities:Combining social contexts for instruction. In L Moll, Vygotsky and Education, 319-348. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. For itsapplication in a UK educational context see M Hughes and A Pollard (eds) (2006). Educational Review (Special Issue on the Home-School Knowledge Exchange Project), 58,4: 385-39550. For more discussion on third spaces, particularly with reference to literacy practices of home and school see Moje, EB,Ciechanowski, KM, Kramer, K, Ellis, L, Carrillo, R, Collazo, T et al (2004). Working toward third space in content area literacy: anexamination of everyday funds of knowledge and discourse. Reading Research Quarterly, 39,1: 38-70. Retrieved fromwww.jstor.org/stable/4151759. In UK Family Learning context, Pahl, K, and Kelly, S (2005). Family literacy as a third space betweenhome and school: some case studies of practice. Literacy, 39,2: 91-651. Levy, R (2008). ‘Third spaces’ are interesting places: applying ‘third space theory’ to nursery-aged children’s constructions ofthemselves as readers. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 8,1: 43-6625

RESEARCH AND POLICY REVIEW2.4 CONNECTING HOME AND SCHOOL CULTURES2Third spaces, then, do not automaticallyarise, and are not always productive for allchildren. There can be a role for a teacher tointentionally create these third spaces, helpingchildren to draw selectively and strategicallyon the funds of knowledge available to them.The Home-School Knowledge Exchange projectaimed to support the transfer of knowledgebetween home and school through explicitactivities including making and taking homevideos of children’s school literacy lessons,and children bringing in to school shoeboxesof meaningful personal possessions andphotos. These activities allowed teachers aninsight into the diversity of children’s homelives, and they were able to integrate aspectsof these into the curriculum. However, becausefunds of knowledge are situated in particularsocial and cultural contexts, the transfer of‘depersonalised’ knowledge is not possible: itis actively interpreted by teachers, parents andchildren in the context of their own agendas,which necessarily raise issues of power andcontrol. While children had some agency in thehome to school knowledge exchange activities,they had very little agency in the school to homedirection, and while bringing children’s homefunds of knowledge into the school curriculumcan be seen on the one hand as personalisingthe curriculum, the flip side to this may be thatthe school discourses take over and colonisethose of the home 52 .Technology connecting cultures of homeand schoolThe pervasive nature of technology may offeropportunities to expand traditional notions ofcurriculum and pedagogy to include the kindsof learning that children are engaged in athome as well as at school, bringing togetherlearning from a range of different sources.Mobile and portable technologies in particularare seen by some as having potential to linklearning across different contexts, and to linkformal and informal kinds of learning 53 .Using weblogs to connect homeand schoolSome schools have used weblogs to connecthome and school cultures, with children writingabout their experiences at home or school andparents and teachers commenting. In an earlyyears project, children took a teddy bear homeand photographed its adventures, then dictatedstories that were written up on the blog.Parents and grandparents commented on thechildren’s posts – enabling even distant familymembers to keep in touch with children’sinterests and learning 54 .Several schools use blogs to allow parentsto keep up to date with school activities, andcommunicate with teachers and children, whichappear to be particularly successful whenchildren are away on residential school trips 55 .Some schools have also begun exploring theuse of Twitter to communicate classroomactivities to parents, although parental uptakeis so far minimal 56 . One primary school usesa digital photo frame in the school receptionarea to share images of children’s activities atschool with parents when they come to pick upchildren from school 57 .However, in a recent review of technologyfacilitatedhome-school communication, themost successful examples were those wherethere was already “cultural harmony betweenhome and school” rather than bridgingthe differences between the two 58 . Usingtechnologies to link home and school withoutconsidering the socio-cultural differences andunequal power relationships between homeand school may potentially reinforce ratherthan overcome inequalities.2652. Hughes, M, and Pollard, A (2006). Home–school knowledge exchange in context. Educational Review, 58,4: 385-395.53. Vavoula, G, Sharples, M, Rudman, P, Lonsdale, P and Meek, J (2007). Learning Bridges: a role for mobile technologies in education.Educational Technology Magazine special issue on ‘Highly mobile computing’, XLVII,3: 33-36; see also Kerawalla et al (2007)54. Marsh, J and Parveen, A (2009). Learning and development: blogging - 21 st century literacy. Article for nursery world provided bythe authors.Available from www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/login/91042855. See, for example, Green Park School’s collection of blogs at greenparkschool.org.uk56. Twitter is a ‘micro-blogging’ service that enables its users to send and read short messages, see twitter.com, ClassroomTweets57. Personal communication with Ollie Bray, Learning and Teaching Scotland58. Lewin, C, Mavers, D and Somekh, B (2003). Broadening access to the curriculum though using technology to link home andschool: a critical analysis of reforms intended to improve students’ educational attainment. The Curriculum Journal, 14,1: 23-53

Digital technologies are used in very differentways at home and at school. Educational useof digital technologies at school tends to beplanned and scaffolded within an organisedcurriculum, and linked to a broader programmeof learning. In contrast, educational homeuse tends to favour individual use with littlecollaboration or support from other familymembers, tends to be restricted to ‘discrete’activities unconnected to other aspects offamily life, and be more playful and exploratory.Placing educational technologies from theschool to the home does not necessarily leadto these technologies being used to supportschool learning in the home 59 .Children’s use of technologies at homemay provide them with different learningexperiences, yet schools often know littleabout children’s technological competencesand practices outside school. Schools maybe able to build connections with children’slearning at home by exploiting children’sskills with technologies developed at homewithin the school.Boundaries between home and schoolWhile efforts are made to ‘bridge the gaps’between home and school, a completely‘seamless’ experience may not, in fact,be desirable.Children often characterise school as a placeof rules and constraint, while home is oftenseen as a site of relaxation and leisure wherethere is more scope for negotiation over rules 60 .Children who feel marked out as differentto their peers by ethnicity, class, religion ordisability may feel that they need to keep thoseaspects of their family and home life privatefrom both their peers and teachers 61 . Childrenare also often protective of parents who do notspeak English well or who children see arelikely to be embarrassed at talking to teachers.Attempts to extend learning from schoolto the home and involve parents in theirchildren’s learning are in danger of reframingchildren’s lives outside school and family lifepurely in terms of an educational project, withchildren leading “a curricularised life within aprofessional logic” 62 . Many parents, in fact,see part of their role as protecting childrenfrom school’s incursions into the home andensuring that children socialise, play andrelax as well as learn 63 .CHAPTER RESEARCH TITTLE AND POLICY HERE REVIEWCHAPTER 2.4 CONNECTING SUB-TITTLE HOME HERE AND SCHOOL CULTURES2 ?59. Kerawalla, L, and Crook, C (2002). Children’s computer use at home and at school: context and continuity. British EducationalResearch Journal, 28,6: 751-771; Kerawalla, L and Crook, C (2005). From promises to practices: the fate of educational software inthe home. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 14,1: 107-125; Blackmore, J, Hardcastle, L, Bamblett, E, Owens, J (2003). EffectiveUse of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to Enhance Learning for Disadvantaged School Students.www.dest.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/D63F92A3-6931-464F-9970-D599BE3E390E/4520/ICTreport.pdf60. Edwards, R and Montandon, C (2002). Home and school constraints in children’s experience of socialisation in Geneva. In REdwards (ed), Children, Home and School: Regulation, Autonomy or Connection? London and New York: Routledge, 106-120; Mayall,B (1994). Children in action at home and school. In B Mayall (ed), Children’s childhoods observed and experienced. London: Falmer.61. Alldred, P, David, M and Edwards, R (2002). Minding the gap: Children and young people negotiating relations between home andschool. In R Edwards (ed), Children, Home and School: Regulation, Autonomy or Connection? London and New York: Routledge, 106-120.62. Ericsson, K and Larsen, G (2002). Adults as resources and adults as burdens: the strategies of children in the age of homeschoolcollaboration. In R Edwards (ed), Children, Home and School: Regulation, Autonomy or Connection? London and New York:Routledge, 92-105.63. Grant, L (2008). Learning in Families: a review of research evidence and the current landscape of Learning in Families withdigital technologies. Bristol: Futurelab. Available at:www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/project_reports/becta/Learning_in_Families_educators_report.pdf27

RESEARCH AND POLICY REVIEW2.5 CHILDREN’S ROLE AND AGENCY IN HOME-SCHOOL RELATIONSHIPS22.5 CHILDREN’SROLE AND AGENCYIN HOME-SCHOOLRELATIONSHIPSThe majority of research into home-schoolrelationships and parental engagement hasnot considered children’s views, choosing tofocus instead on the relationship betweenparents and teachers 64 . However, there aresome studies that indicate that children doin fact play a very significant role in parents’engagement in their learning and are active inmediating their own transitions between homeand school. This section therefore will focuson children’s role in the nature and extent ofrelationships between home and school.Children’s role in parental involvementThe most frequent way for children to playa role in home-school relationships is as‘messengers’ between school and home,however, most parents report that theywould like to know more about children’sschool experiences than they hear fromchildren themselves. In overcoming this“crisis in communication” between childrenand parents, it is important to acknowledgethe agency of children, with guidanceemphasising that parents should try to findout what children are enthusiastic about, askopen questions and wait to be ‘invited in’ bychildren rather than demanding informationin an interrogatory fashion 65 .2864. Reynolds, J (2005). Parents’ involvement in their children’s learning and schools: How should their responsibilities relate to thoseof the state? London: National Family and Parenting Institute65. Crozier, G and Davies, J (2007). Hard to reach parents or hard to reach schools? A discussion of home-school relations, withparticular reference to Bangladeshi and Pakistani parents. British Educational Research Journal, 33,3: 295-313; Byron, T (2009).The “Oh, Nothing Much” Report: The value of after-school conversation. Coventry: Becta.nextgenerationlearning.org.uk/Global/The%20Oh%20Nothing%20Much%20report%20-%2023.03.09.pdf

In one of the few studies to explicitly focuson children’s role in parental involvement,children were seen to play a major role in theextent of their parents’ involvement in theireducation, with children taking an active orpassive attitude to facilitating either theirparents’ involvement, or ‘uninvolvement’.That is, children would either actively seekparents’ involvement or uninvolvement, orpassively ‘go along with’ parents’ involvementor uninvolvement. Children may involve theirparents in some aspects of their learning,while resisting involvement in others.Children who actively involved their parentswere usually motivated by a desire forintimacy with their parent, most oftentheir mother, rather than to improve theireducational achievement, emphasising theimportance of the parent-child relationship.Children may resent their parents’ ‘intrusion’into school matters because they feelcompetent to deal with the situation alone,they think their parents will be unable tohelp, or because they fear their parents’involvement may make matters worse.However, children’s efforts to keep home andschool separate does not imply that they valueone sphere (home or school) at the expense ofthe other – some children maintain separationwhile highly valuing both home and school 66 .Children’s personal learning agendasA study of young children showed how theyconnected their learning at home and atschool to further their own ‘personal learningagendas’ 67 . Children were able to exploit,appropriate and transform the opportunitiesfor learning presented by school and hometo make them personally meaningful. Forexample, while two children who appear to belearning the same thing, such as how to ridea bike, will learn the same skills, they mayalso appropriate this experience to their ownmore personal learning agendas. One childmight connect learning to ride a bike withlearning about freedom from the home whilefor another it might connect to competitionwith siblings.This deeper level of learning was intimatelyconnected to children’s own deep concerns;their own personal agendas informed whatthey took from the learning experience.Children in this study appropriated theirlearning experiences to explore personallysignificant issues, such as death, or how todeal with being seen as different from peers.To understand children’s personal learningagendas, teachers and parents need to listento their voices and perspectives on theirlearning experiences.CHAPTER RESEARCH TITTLE AND POLICY HERE REVIEWCHAPTER 2.5 CHILDREN’S SUB-TITTLE ROLE AND HERE AGENCY IN HOME-SCHOOL RELATIONSHIPS2 ?66. The Children 5-16 study sought to find out how children understand and influence their parents’ involvement in their education.See: Edwards, R, Alldred, P and David, M (2000). Children’s understandings of parental involvement in education. Children 5-16Research Briefing Number 11, ESRC. www.hull.ac.uk.chidren5to16programme Edwards, R and Alldred, P (2002). A typologyof parental involvement in education centring on children and young people: negotiating familialisation, institutionalisation andindividualisation. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 21,3: 435-455, and Alldred, P, David, M and Edwards, R (2002). Mindingthe gap: children and young people negotiating relations between home and school. In R Edwards (ed), Children, Home and School:Regulation, Autonomy or Connection? London and New York: Routledge, 106-12067. Maddock, M (2006). Children’s personal learning agendas at home. Cambridge Journal of Education, 36,2: 153-16929

RESEARCH AND POLICY REVIEW2.6 SUMMARY22.6 SUMMARY:WHY IS THEHOME-SCHOOLRELATIONSHIPIMPORTANT INCHILDREN’SEDUCATION?This review of policy, research evidence andtheory points to the importance of fosteringgood home-school relationships to supportchildren’s learning in the widest sense, and tothe need to involve children as active mediatorsof the relationship between their home andschool. The key points to take away from thisreview are summarised below.Parents’ engagement in children’s learningat home is a significant factor contributingto children’s achievement in school, throughshowing an interest, encouraging perseveranceand resilience, supporting educationaldecision-making and demonstrating proeducationalvalues. Parents’ involvementwith their children’s school in itself makesno difference to their children’s achievement,although for some parents this can be a firststep towards engagement in their learning.Where parents are not involved with theschool, schools cannot assume that they aredisengaged with learning at home: engagementmay be invisible to the school.There are several barriers to parents’engagement with children’s learning. Parentsoften feel they do not have the skills, knowledgeor confidence to support children’s learning,especially as children get older. Schools canhelp parents engage with children’s learning:this is most successful when it builds on thepositive activities parents already do and givesthem new ideas they can adapt for themselvesrather than transplanting wholesale activitiesfrom school that may not fit within the familycultures and contexts.Parents play many different roles in theirchildren’s education, making it important thatschools consult with parents to discover theirneeds and aspirations for the home-schoolrelationship and do not adopt a one-size-fitsallapproach. The use of digital technologiescan enhance communication with parents,and is welcomed by many. It is important thatthere are opportunities for two-way ‘thick’communication as well as more light-touch‘thin’ forms of communication, and schoolsneed to consider the most appropriate digitalmedium to fit the content of the message theyare communicating.Bringing school practices of learning andknowing into conversation with homepractices can connect children’s schoollearning to their lived experiences and enablethem to draw on all the resources at theirdisposal to support their learning. Digitaltechnologies may also offer the possibility ofcreating a virtual ‘third space’ where childrenthemselves are able to bring together andconnect aspects of their lives and learning fromhome and school. Bringing aspects of schooland home together is not about making a‘seamless’ connection that leaves children withno independence or privacy, or that reframesthe home as an educational space, but aboutdrawing selectively from the practices of homeand school.Finally, children’s role in mediating therelationship between home and schoolneeds to be acknowledged and supported.By recognising children’s active role inmediating their own learning experiencebetween home and school and furthering theirlearning agendas, the focus is shifted fromthe school’s attempts to extend learning tothe home to how children can be supported tomake the most of the learning opportunitiesavailable to them at school and at home.Through the online reporting and Home Accessinitiatives, digital technologies are beingharnessed to support the parental engagementagenda, to facilitate communication betweenhome and school and to connect learning athome and at school. However, schools need toconsider how digital technologies will play outin the complex landscape of the home-schoolrelationship, thinking about when ‘thick’ or‘thin’ communication technologies are mostappropriate, how children can be involved ascentral players within any system and howthey may create a virtual ‘third space’ wherechildren are able to connect aspects of theirlives and learning from home and school inpursuit of their own learning agendas.30

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3. STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONSIn this section, a number of issues thatschools and teachers need to consider asthey develop their own strategies for usingdigital technologies to support home-schoolrelationships are discussed. The content ofthese considerations is not exhaustive, butis informed by and reflects some of the mostfrequent and important issues identifiedthrough analysis of previous research, expertinterviews, case studies of schools’ useof technologies to support home-schoolrelationships and original research withchildren, parents and teachers in secondaryschools. Quotes from parents, teachers andchildren and examples are given from thisoriginal research. Specific technology-relatedconsiderations are distributed throughout thissection in boxed-out texts.The specific strategies and uses of technologiesthat any school uses will be most successfulwhen they are informed by and developed inconsultation with children and their families.There is unlikely to be a single strategy thatwill work for all schools, so this is not a‘how-to’ manual for supporting home-schoolrelationships. However, there are somecommon issues that most schools are likelyto encounter at some point on their journeytowards using technologies to support homeschoolrelationships. These considerationsare therefore presented to give schools anidea of what to expect, and a framework inwhich to consider the development of theirown strategies.Page 01

3.1 DEVELOPING EXPECTATIONSExplicit and transparent expectationsof roles and responsibilitiesIn negotiating the home-school relationship,children, parents and teachers have a setof expectations about their own roles andresponsibilities, and those of each other.However, sometimes parents, teachers andchildren do not quite know what others expectof them, or feel that the expectations of themare unreasonable, or that they do not knowwhat they should be able to expect from oneother. Developing and sharing expectationsabout children’s, teachers’ and parents’ rolescan help them negotiate the relationshipsbetween home and school and with each other.Knowing what you can expect of one anothercan also contribute towards a more trustingrelationship where everyone knows wherethey stand.“I need to know who and how and when toget in touch with people” (Parent)While all schools are required to have aHome-School Agreement with parents, theconsultation and discussion around its contentis often minimal, with parents often feelingthat it does not take account of their concernsand in most cases is unlikely to be enforceable.Children are also rarely involved in discussingthe content of the Home-School Agreement.It is currently proposed that Home-SchoolAgreements are made legally enforceable,but whether or not this comes to pass, theycan provide a good place to start in discussingrealistic expectations with parents and children.The expectations made of children in thehome-school relationship are often limited totheir role as messengers conveying informationfrom the school to home, however, particularlyat secondary school, talking to children isthe main way in which parents come to knowabout the life of the school. Rather than simplyseeing children as more or less unreliablemessengers, it is worth considering whattheir roles already are and how they can begiven more responsibility within the homeschoolrelationship.When children start a new school, they havea lot to learn about how that school operates.Their parents also have to discover how theschool works and how to engage with it.Virtual ‘buddy’ systems for parents, as wellas children, where parents of Year 6 childrencan contact parents of children attending thesecondary school can work well in inductingthem to the life of the school. Parents alsolearn about the schools’ expectations of themand their children, and what they can expectfrom school, from other parents in thelocal community.“When you’re told you should be helpingyour child with homework what does thatactually mean?” (Parent)Expectations of homeworkFor parents, expectations around homework isa key issue. They are often unsure about whatis expected of children for homework, whatinvolvement they should have in their children’shomework, and at what point they should letchildren take responsibility for homeworkthemselves. Some parents are wary of helpingfor fear of ‘cheating’ or because they thinkchildren should be working independently.Teachers may also not have considered thespecific and different ways in which parents,who may not have teaching skills or subjectknowledge, can best support children withhomework. While expectations need to be clear,they also need to be flexible enough so thatparents and children can adapt what they do tofit in to the time they have available and whatthey feel comfortable doing.Parents may sometimes feel that theexpectations of them to support theirchildren’s learning are too high orunsustainable alongside their othercommitments. Therefore while clearexpectations are helpful, flexibility is key inmaking sure that parents are able to supporttheir children in a way that they can manage.“I don’t know whether the schoolreally wants us to help ... I don’t knowwhether they want us to let them do it ontheir own” (Parent)STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS3.1 DEVELOPING EXPECTATIONS333

STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS3.1 DEVELOPING EXPECTATIONS3Expectations of communicationCommunication between parents and schoolis also an area where there may be uncertaintyabout what is expected. Parents are oftenunsure when it is appropriate to contact theschool, who to contact, and the best ways ofmaking contact. Teachers may well fear being‘flooded’ with lots of unfocused or demandingmessages, but one of the best ways to addressthis is to have very clear guidelines andexpectations for when, how and who to contact,and what parents can expect in response 68 .Making clear when communication is for‘information only’ and when a reply is expectedis very helpful for parents.The ways that schools expect parents toengage with them also needs to be negotiatedwith parents around their needs and othercommitments rather than simply imposed uponthem. For example, parents who do not attendparents’ evenings may be seen as disengagedwith their children’s education. However,some schools have found that parents havenot attended because they are deaf, do notspeak English well, work in the evenings, fearthat they themselves will be ‘told off’, or donot appreciate how attending can help themor their child. Using digital technologies tocommunicate with parents raises a new senseof expectations around parents’ and teachers’availability. Some parents’ work commitmentsmean they cannot be phoned during the day ordo not have internet access through work or athome; families who rely on mobile phones maynot have the credit necessary to check voicemails and so text messages may be preferable.Expectations for using digital technologiestherefore need to take account of parents’existing commitments and patterns of use.Expectations for how digital technologiesshould be used are set up by establishingpatterns of use. For example, different webforums have very different rules of ‘etiquette’,developed and maintained by a core group ofusers, who also tend to ‘police’ the rules ofetiquette when newcomers join. Using digitaltechnologies to communicate between schoolstaff and parents and children, or betweenparents, can be set up by inviting a group ofparents, teachers and children to lead the wayand enact the ways in which peopleare expected to make use of digitalcommunication services.Access to and use of digitaltechnologiesUsing digital technologies to supportcommunication between the home and schoolsupposes that children and their families areable make use of digital technologies outsideschool, including but not limited to a computerand internet connection. The level of broadbandconnectivity, mobile phone ownership (includinginternet-enabled phones) as well as gamesconsoles, printers, scanners, etc, will all affecthow it is possible to make use of technologiesin the home-school relationship.Hardware choices also affect the way thattechnologies can be used in home-schoolrelationships strategies. Lightweight netbooksor ultra-mobile PCs can be carried by childrenfrom home to school, giving them ownershipof the technology, although contingency plansfor breakage, loss and theft will be necessary.Portable devices also mean that childrencan easily show the screen to parents whenappropriate. Handheld or portable devicesmay also allow for more ad hoc use by staffrather than needing to log on to a staticdesktop computer.The Home Access initiative is starting toovercome some of the financial barriersto home computer and internet access forchildren and their families, but access is onlythe first step in making use of technologies 69 .But as well as physical access, people alsoneed the skills, confidence and desire touse technologies in order to experience anybenefits of digital communication. So as wellas discovering the levels of access in children’shomes, it is also important to consider howthey use the technologies they have access to.As well as broadband access at home, it isworth considering how children and teacherswill access internet services at school. In manyschools, there are limited facilities for childrento access the internet in between lessons, sowifi available on children’s own devices may bea better option.3468. Lent Rise Primary School in Buckinghamshire promises a response to parents’ emails within 72 hours, even if this is a ‘holding’email acknowledging receipt and explaining what is happening until the matter can be resolved.69. See the Research and policy review above for more detail on the Home Access policy

Expectations of staffSchools will need to consider how to managethe changing expectations of teachers,tutors and other members of staff. Digitaltechnologies can open up far greateropportunities for parents to contact school staffdirectly and schools will need to consider howmuch time they expect staff to spend on suchcommunication and how they will make thistime available. This is also a question of staffroles and school priorities. Seeing buildingpositive home-school relationships as centralto the work of the school, communicatingwith parents and supporting children’s homelearning should not be seen as a ‘distraction’from the work of teaching, but as part andparcel of the business of supporting children’slearning. However, teachers and other schoolstaff need to be given the time to do this. Itis also important to consider the differentexpectations of staff with subject teachingroles, pastoral roles (tutors, heads of year andheads of houses), specialists (SEN coordinators,etc) front line staff in receptionand intermediaries such as parent supportadvisors or learning mentors and how theywork together. Being proactive about settingand communicating what parents can expectfrom these different staff roles and how best tocommunicate with them can go a long way toavoiding teachers needing to play a reactive rolein responding to lots of direct communication.CHAPTER STRATEGIC TITTLE CONSIDERATIONSHERECHAPTER 3.1 DEVELOPING SUB-TITTLE EXPECTATIONS HERE3 ?Questions_ What opportunities can be found, such asthe Home-School Agreement, to discuss theroles and responsibilities of parents, teachersand children? How can these expectations beflexible enough to take account of their needsand commitments?_ What can parents and children expect fromdifferent members of staff and how can thisbe made explicit? How should parents andchildren communicate with different staffmembers and for different issues?_ Can current parents and students usedigital technologies to communicate theexpectations they have of school and theschool has of them to new parentsand children?_ What can reasonably be expected of parentsin supporting their children’s homework?_ How can parents’ role in supportingchildren’s learning build on the uniquecontribution they can make as parents, ratherthan trying to replicate the teacher’s role?35

STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS3.2 OWNERSHIP AND LEADERSHIP33.2 OWNERSHIPAND LEADERSHIPDeveloping an integrated, wholeschool strategyA good home-school relationship that reallymakes a difference to children’s learning doesnot just happen; it needs to be embedded ina whole-school strategy and reflected in theschool ethos. Where home-school relationshipsare considered only as an ‘added extra’ to theexisting work of the school, efforts are likely tobe less successful and have less of an impacton children’s learning experiences. In orderto make a difference, the implementation ofdigital technologies including steps to meet theonline reporting expectations need to be seenin terms of how they can support the wideraims of developing home-school relationshipsand parental engagement, and not just as anextension of existing reporting procedures.Taking seriously an aim to improve homeschoolrelationships as an integral part ofschool strategy means it is likely to have aneffect on what happens in school at manydifferent levels. Rather than making homeschoolrelationships the sole responsibilityof just one or two staff members, all stafftherefore need to be involved in the processof embedding home-school relationships andgiven the opportunity for appropriate continuingprofessional development to support thisaim. It is also important to have clear, strongleadership from the senior management teamin order to maintain a high profile for thisagenda, and to have expertise available withinthe school for staff to draw upon. The schoolleadership team need to promote the positivebenefits of a good home-school relationship,and the ways in which the school hopes toachieve this, so that staff can engage with thethinking behind strategies, question it anddevelop it themselves, rather than perceiving itmerely as an additional requirement.Digital technologies forcommunicationIf digital technologies are being used tocommunicate with the home, how do thesechannels and the messages conveyed usingthem fit into the bigger picture of schoolhomecommunication? Discrepancies ininformation received via email or text, and thatreceived verbally from children, other parentsor school staff can lead to a breakdown intrust in the reliability of any communication.The way digital channels are to be used needto be understood by all staff so that there isconsistency across the school, and parentsand children know what to expect.The use of digital technologies as part ofa whole school strategy also raises moretechnical issues. The digital channels usedto communicate with parents, track andreport information need to link in with theother systems being used within the schoolin order to ensure consistency of messagesand avoid duplication of effort. When choosingdata management and communication tools,consideration of how these integrate with theschool’s Management Information Systems(MIS) and the interoperability of differentdigital systems will be important.Fostering ownershipSetting up any new digital communicationchannels requires some leadership and‘championing’ until the stage at which itachieves a sustainable momentum. In our study,both parents and teachers took a ‘reactive’approach to the use of technologies, with onestaff member commenting “I logged on onceto see if anything was there”. If all participantswait for someone else to start using digitalcommunication channels, then clearly the useof technologies will not make any difference tocommunication between home and school.The value of a system may only be apparentwhen it is already being used by others, forexample online discussion boards are no usewhen people are not using them, and peoplewill often wait for someone else to take theinitiative. Inviting children, parents and teachersto ‘champion’ such systems and take theinitiative can help to demonstrate their valueand act as a ‘hook’ to bring in othersto participate.36

The development and implementation of astrategy using digital technologies to supporthome-school relationships needs to be‘owned’ by those people who are going tobe using it: teachers, parents and children.This means involving these stakeholders inthe development of a strategy through someform of consultation. Being involved in aconsultation process already confers a senseof ownership when those who take part feelthey have been listened to. Parents, childrenand school practitioners need to be involved indeveloping the strategy, identifying what theparticular aims, values, needs, challenges andaspirations are for their particular school andhow they can address them. Included in thisconsultation should be children’s and parents’access to and skills to use digital technologies,in order to consider how strategies can beembedded within existing patterns of use, andany training and support that might be needed.Skipping this consultation process can resultin a strategy that is based on an incompleteunderstanding of children’s home lives andis resented as a top-down imposition. Theresulting strategy should be a living processembedded within a whole-school ethos, thatcan change and develop over time, rather thana document that is filed away and reviewedevery couple of years.Sharing the learning agendaSuch shared ownership of a home-schoolstrategy is about more than just involvingparents and children as stakeholders in theschool; it is about sharing ownership of thelearning agenda. Children learn informallyoutside school as well as within school andthrough homework; they appropriate theresources available to them from school andhome including other people, technologies andcultural resources available to them 70 .Sharing the learning agenda between homeand school means considering how childrencan be supported to get the best from theopportunities they have for learning both withinand outside school, not just considering howwhat children do at home can support whatthe school is trying to achieve. This changesthe focus so that school is seen as one, verysignificant, learning resource in children’slives alongside their other experiences. Thismeans taking seriously the needs and concernsthat children and their parents have abouttheir learning – even when they don’t alignclosely with the school’s own agenda. It alsomeans that the value of children’s non-schoolexperiences is not automatically dismissed,and instead focuses on what schools can do toequip children with the skills to draw on all theresources they have available.Questions_ How will a strategy to support home-schoolrelationships be embedded in the life of theschool? Consider the possible impact oncurriculum, reporting procedures, extracurricularactivities and involvement with thelocal community._ How will you ensure that children, parentsand teachers are involved in developing astrategy that reflects their values and meetstheir needs? Can you invite some children,parents and teachers to be ‘champions’ ofthe strategy and any systems used?_ How can the school find out about theknowledge and skills that children can drawupon from outside school and build on thesewithin the curriculum?CHAPTER STRATEGIC TITTLE CONSIDERATIONSHERECHAPTER 3.2 OWNERSHIP SUB-TITTLE AND LEADERSHIPHERE3 ?70. See the discussion about ‘funds of knowledge’ in the research review37

Case Study 1: Saltash.net Community School, CornwallSaltash.net Community School in Cornwall isan 11-18 mixed comprehensive school withspecialist status in science, mathematicsand computing.The platform is also used to showcasestudents’ best work and to share practicebetween subjects in school as well as betweenhome and school.STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONSCASE STUDY 1: SALTASH.NET COMMUNITY SCHOOL, CORNWALL3The school is using private social network sitessuch as Ning and Edmodo to support linksbetween young people’s learning in and out-ofschoolas well as MSN messenger for one-toonementoring. Science teacher and AssistantHead Dan Roberts has been using Ning as aplatform for GCSE classes to work togetheronline in the evenings. “Once the platform is setup it runs itself, with students and parents allcommunicating with one another, commentingon each other’s work and answering eachother’s questions”. The network is used sociallyas well as for communication around the topicsbeing studied in the classroom and beingset for homework. Students often post theirown discussions and questions either aroundthe current topics being covered in schoolor on completely new topics. “What happensonline then has an impact on what happensin the classroom” says Dan, with lesson plansconstantly shifting based on input from bothstudents and parents online.Ning groups now exist across most subjectsin the school and the feedback from bothparents and students has been very positive,with parents reporting that their children seemmuch more engaged and that they feel theyare much more able to get involved in theirchildren’s learning.MSN messenger has enabled teachers atSaltash.net to mentor individual studentsoutside of lessons (having individualconversations with up to 10 studentssimultaneously). Using messenger as a toolhas allowed much more one-to-one time thatisn’t often possible in a classroom setting.As the conversation is often more relaxedand includes day-to-day as well as targetedconversations around learning points it hasenabled teachers to get to know students andunderstand their interests much better.In introducing such Web 2.0 applications tosupport communication and learning betweenhome and school, there were some initialconcerns around safeguarding childrenbut these have all proved solvable. All MSNconversations are recorded for reference andpermission is sought at the beginning of eachnew school year from parents for teachers andchildren to be able to communicate online outof school hours.Links:School website: www.saltash.netDan Robert’s blog: chickensaltash.edublogs.orgNING social network site: www.ning.comEdmodo social network site: www.edmodo.com38

Case Study 2: Noadswood School, HampshireNoadswood School is a mixed comprehensiveand a specialist sports college in Southampton,Hampshire for students between 11-16.The school is involved in the ‘Learning Futuresprogramme’ (run by Paul Hamlyn Foundationand the Innovation Unit) which is ‘rethinkingand modelling what goes on in our schools’. Aspart of this project the school’s innovation workfocuses on engaging parents in their children’slearning. The use of new technologies is seenas crucial in achieving the school’s aspirationsand goals in this area.As part of its strategy to develop greater linkswith parents, Noadswood has set up a Parents’Focus Group (made up of a cross-section ofparents of 100 of its students). These parentscommunicate with the school and with eachother via a purpose built online portal thatcontains email, access to a forum where topicsfor discussion are set and feedback requested,and questionnaires.One area of development is in online reporting(currently used in science and being introducedin English and mathematics). The aim is toinvolve parents more deeply in assessment forlearning and to create a feedback system thatfills the gaps between the traditional termlyreports. Teachers record assessment resultson an ongoing basis using Excel with this dataconverted into simple graphical displays of thestudent’s progress and emailed to parents on aregular basis. The feedback from parents hasbeen positive with many parents responding tothe emails: ‘Thank you for Matt’s merit award.We are very proud of him. Hope he keeps up thegood work. Any problems please do contact me’.The school is also using their SchoolInformation Management System (SIMS) toelectronically record details of teacher-studentmentoring conversations so the outcomes andtargets can be accessed by parents and hasa texting system in place that allows timelycommunication with parents via their mobiles.Noadswood focuses on developing resourcesthat are flexible and can be accessedanywhere online. The school’s Moodle VLE isused extensively for posting resources andhomework tasks. The school also uses ‘Filmsfor Learning’ across subjects and studentsare encouraged to use film as a medium inwhich homework can be submitted, with manyparents getting involved in creating videos withtheir children.Subject-based peer mentoring has beenrecently introduced in science and history.Mentors and mentees are linked by a VLEbasedforum so that students can accesssupport with homework outside school. Someof the mentors are ex-students and all mentorshave been trained in basic learning pedagogy.The school is also considering furtherdevelopments using e-portfolios, wikis, andweblogs to encourage parents to access theirchildren’s learning.Links:School website: www.noadswood.co.ukMoodle: moodle.orgFilms for Learning: www.filmsforlearning.orgPaul Hamlyn Foundation:www.phf.org.uk/landing.asp?id=368Learning Futures: www.learningfutures.orgInnovation Unit – learning futures:www.innovation-unit.co.uk/images/stories/files/pdf/learningfutures_booklet.pdfSTRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONSCASE STUDY 2: NOADSWOOD SCHOOL, HAMPSHIRE339

STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS3.3 PROBLEM-SOLVING33.3 PROBLEM­SOLVINGCatching and acting on problems quicklyTeachers, children and parents generallyappreciate the role that a good home-schoolrelationship can play in resolving problemsthat children may be experiencing at school.Children may experience problems withtheir behaviour in school, their progress andachievement, or their social and emotionaladjustment. Identifying when a problem arisesand taking steps to tackle it quickly is crucialin making sure it does not become entrenched.Parents and teachers can sometimes bereticent to contact one another about aproblem, unsure of the response they willreceive. In some cases, by the time a parentcomes to school with a problem, they and theirchild are angry and upset. A more trustingrelationship can break down this reticenceand result in problems being addressedmore swiftly.Capturing, tracking and sharing data onchildren’s progress on a frequent basis is oneway in which problems can be identified at anearly stage by teachers, parents or childrenthemselves. Where children are falling behind,or repeatedly missing homework, waiting untilparents’ evening may mean a lost opportunityto address the problem, and that problembecoming more serious and more difficultto resolve. The online reporting expectationsinclude plans to make data on progressand behaviour available to parents, but it isimportant to consider how parents, childrenand teachers can act on the information theyreceive. For parents, the next step is usuallytalking to children to understand the issue,followed by talking to teachers to see what canbe done to address it. Tracking informationthrough online reporting has been used tosupport face to face ‘structured conversations’focused on listening to and learning fromparents and children in a project that aims toimprove the outcomes for children with specialeducational needs and disabilities 71 . Makingdata transparent therefore needs to be seenas the start of a conversation between parents,children and teachers, not an end point initself. Schools can therefore consider how theycan present data in ways that facilitate suchproductive conversations.A good relationship between parentsand teachers also means that consistentexpectations of children’s behaviour can beshared between home and school, meaningthat they are less likely to ‘play off’ teachersand parents against one another. Developingthese expectations needs to be done inconsultation with parents and children, sothat the school and home work to a set ofshared values. As well as asking parents tosupport the school’s policies, the school is ina stronger position when it also understandsand reinforces the expectations that childrenlive up to at home. Communication aboutbehaviour needs to happen as close to theevent as possible in order to have an effectand to reflect a consistent message acrossthe school; digital technologies can supportthis swift communication and help co-ordinatemessages across the school (see also ‘See theBigger Picture’).“If you’re in trouble then if your parentsknow they can talk to you and help you sussit out.” (Year 10 student)Addressing problems with schoolInevitably, there are times when childrenor parents have a problem with somethinghappening in school, or a complaint abouthow the school has approached or dealt withan issue. When these complaints are serious,there needs to be a straightforward policy forhow they are dealt with, and in most schoolsthis is in place. However, parents also wantto be able to provide feedback to the schoolin a ‘low-key’ way, providing suggestions forimprovement or letting the school know whenthings have not gone quite right. Bringingsuch feedback into the school providesanother perspective for the school to use in itsdevelopment, and can also stem the circulationand escalation of complaints that canundermine the school if not addressed. Digitaltechnologies can provide easy mechanismsfor such feedback, as well as making publicresponses where appropriate.Involving children in finding a solutionChildren are very clear that they want to beinvolved in the problem solving process, as theyare the key players and solutions developedwithout their input have a more limited chanceof being successful. Children often feel they donot have legitimate authority to raise problemsat school on their own, and usually turn toparents in the first place for support.4071. The ‘structured conversation’ approach could easily be applied to any children experiencing problems within school. For moreinformation on the ‘Achievement for All’ programme and structured conversations, seenationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/253403?uc=force_uj

When parents are unable to engage withthe school to help their child resolve aproblem, this can undermine the parent-childrelationship, as well as the child’s and theparent’s engagement with school. As childrenget older, there may be more opportunitiesto facilitate them to take a greater role in theresolution of their own problems.Problems at homeThere are also occasionally problems childrenexperience outside school that affect theirbehaviour and progress within school.Sometimes these might be very sensitive issuesof death, divorce or poor health. Children wantto be able to choose which teachers are toldabout such issues, choosing those whom theytrust and already have a relationship with.Communication via an anonymous centraladministration system is not appropriate inthese circumstances, and children and parentswant to be sure that such private informationis not shared with other students or staffwho do not need to know about it. Whilechildren sometimes resist such informationbeing shared with school, particularly whereit concerns bullying, they recognise that itmay be necessary, and at least want to beincluded and informed about what is beingsaid and to whom, so avoiding a perceptionthat teachers and parents are ‘talking behindtheir back’. The relative distance provided bydigital communication can suit some childrenand parents when informing the school aboutsuch home issues, but for many the morepersonal forms of face-to-face or telephoneconversations are more appropriate.Digital technologies can also provide a relativelyeasy way to keep track of any ongoing specialneeds or health problems over a child’s schoolcareer, and can be particularly useful when achild moves school or has a new teacher suchas a supply teacher, who can quickly check theneeds of children in a particular class.Questions_ What data can be tracked and monitored toallow early identification of problems?_ Do parents and children know what stepsto take to work with the school when theyidentify a problem?_ How can parents and children provide lowkeyfeedback to the school in a way that canbe dealt with constructively, not defensively?_ Can children be included by default in thesharing of information about them and inprocesses to address problems?“Where does a child go when it’s got aproblem? To the parents or their friends.But on my incident, my child’s coming to me,what are we supposed to do about it? I’verang ‘em [the school], twice, and I’ve beenup here three times, so what am I supposedto do about it? So I feel personally that I’mletting my daughter down.” (Parent)Choosing the right technology forthe messageSchools are increasingly using digital channelsto communicate with parents and children,and many parents welcome being contactedby email and text instead of looking for lettersin children’s bags or trying to get through toreception. Consultation with parents to discoverhow they prefer to be contacted is a necessarystarting point, for example, not all parentswork in an environment where checkingemails and taking calls on their mobile phoneis appropriate.Different technologies are appropriate fordifferent types of communication. As describedabove, it can be useful to think about ‘thick’and ‘thin’ forms of communication. ‘Thick’communication – in-depth and nuancedcommunication such as face-to-face discussion– is necessary when there is a sensitive ordifficult problem that needs to be resolved.Text messages and emails are ‘thinner’ formsof communication, but are ideal for morelightweight information such as sendingreminders and notifications, and parentsappreciate being able to read and respond tomessages when they have time, rather thanduring the school day. However, when thereis asynchronous communication like this, itcan be difficult to know that a message hasreached the correct recipient, and some formof acknowledgement of receipt is important toensure that communication is trusted._ Alerts for new messages / urgent contentto phone or email_ Record of sent messages essential_ Acknowledgement that message hasbeen received by correct person – not justa ‘black hole’_ Profile pictures popular – and linkingto webcam_ Photos more important for children –photos of themselvesCHAPTER STRATEGIC TITTLE CONSIDERATIONSHERECHAPTER 3.3 PROBLEM-SOLVINGSUB-TITTLE HERE3 ?41

STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS3.4 CHILDREN’S VOICE AND DEVELOPING AUTONOMY33.4 CHILDREN’SVOICE ANDDEVELOPINGAUTONOMYChildren’s independenceDuring their time at secondary school,children are learning how to ‘be in the world’as independent adults on their own terms. Aschildren get older, parents’ role in supportingtheir learning changes. Parents start to stepback from helping directly with homework aschildren are able to take more responsibility forthemselves, and as parents feel less qualifiedto offer help with school subjects. Both parentsand children are looking towards a time whenparents will not be able to support childrenat every turn. However, parents do still playan important role in children’s learning asthey get older, in encouraging and motivatingthem, and helping them to make decisionsabout educational choices such as takingGCSE options, and post 16 and post 18 choices.Negotiation between parents and childrenfluctuates during this time, for example, someresearch suggests that children aged 14-16want greater freedom from parents in theireducation than they experience, but at age 16­18 tend to want more involvement from parents ata time when parents are generally backing off 72 .“Once she gets to a certain stage I’ll belike, ‘well I’ve no idea what you‘re talkingabout’” (Parent)“You’re not going to be there for their exams” (Parent) Children themselves are often very active ininvolving their parents in their learning, andcan be supported by the school to guide theirparents in how to best support them. Oneschool involves pupils in setting their owntargets and priorities for the term ahead, andthen children themselves share this informationwith parents via the schools’ learning platform(virtual learning environment) 73 .There are likely to be some tensions betweenschool and home as parents and teachersnegotiate with children about the extent towhich they are responsible themselves fortheir own education. Some parents may try toencourage children to take responsibility fortheir own school work by letting them reapthe consequences at school if they do not fulfilthe requirements, while schools may interpretthis as a lack of responsibility on behalf ofparents. While good relationships betweenhome and school can work very well to supportchildren’s learning, there is a danger thatexcessive management of children’s learningby parents and teachers leaves them no roomfor negotiation, and no opportunities to developtheir own independence and responsibility.Digital technologies can provide opportunitiesfor greater co-ordination between parentsand teachers by sharing information aboutchildren’s education and providing opportunitiesfor closer communication. However, it isimportant that these opportunities do notclose down the space for children to exerciseresponsibility for themselves, make their owndecisions and have their voice heard in mattersof their own education. Children themselvestherefore need to be visible, and to have somelevel of control for themselves within digitalsystems to support home-school relationships.Children may be independent and autonomousin some aspects of their learning, but needmore support in others. Children may beintellectually capable of completing homeworkindependently, but parents provide greatsupport in fostering skills of resilience andtime management that ensure that childrencomplete the work in a reasonable time.Children’s voiceChildren are very clear about wanting to belistened to by parents and teachers in mattersconcerning their education. Children areparticularly resentful when they feel teachersand parents are talking behind their back.When children participate in such discussions,they are more likely to have some ownership ofand commitment to any action taken as a result.4272. Interview with Anne Page, Policy Manager, Family and Parenting Institute.73. Interview with Brenda Bigland, Head Teacher, Lent Rise Primary School.

With the growing attention paid to questionsof student voice, it is important that children’sviews and ideas about the home-schoolrelationship are sought and listened to.Children don’t necessarily come to suchdiscussions with a fully formed agenda, but dohave strong views about how the relationshipbetween home and school impacts on theirlives. Involving children in decisions about howto manage the home-school relationship can becombined with learner voice initiatives, but aswith many such discussions, their involvementneeds to be carefully and creatively scaffoldedto allow them to engage with the issues anddevelop and express their ideas 74 .Children often have difficulty communicatingwith their parents about their learning,feeling frustrated when they cannot maketheir parents listen to or understand them.Using technologies to let parents know whatis happening at school, thereby giving parentsthe opportunity to ask specific questions aboutthe children’s school days, can help supportconversations between parents and children 75 .Children need to “know that you’re on theirside, take an interest, breaking down thething that ‘why do you care, you get paid forit’. It’s having the time to not just brush themaside. And then when there is a problem,your concern does not appear ‘fake’ tothem”. (Teacher)CHAPTER STRATEGIC TITTLE CONSIDERATIONSHERECHAPTER 3.4 CHILDREN’S SUB-TITTLE VOICE HERE AND DEVELOPING AUTONOMY3 ?Children also need to know that they arelistened to and understood by teachers atschool. They need to know that teachers careabout what happens to them, and have aninterest in them beyond simply doing their job.When a teacher who a child doesn’t alreadyhave a good relationship with tries to talk tothem, it can be perceived as intrusive and as‘fake’, whereas existing trusting relationshipsbetween teachers and children can allowchildren to speak to teachers when they areexperiencing problems at school.“Don’t just leave them [children] to do it bythemselves, talk to them. Cos if they needhelp then they will actually tell you that theyneed help, … then they’re not going to getupset during the lesson cos the teacher justyelled at them.” (Year 8 student)Questions_ How can children be supported toexpress the varying levels of support andindependence they want from parents andteachers over different aspects of theireducation at different times?_ In what ways can children of different agesbe supported to take responsibility foraspects of their own learning, includingbeing given the chance to do thingsdifferently and take risks?_ How can space for children’s voices to beheard be included in digital spaces for homeschoolcommunication?_ How can children be scaffolded to developtheir own ideas about how home-schoolrelationships can support their learning?74. For more about learner voice, see Rudd, T, Colligan, F and Naik, R (2006). Learner voice: a handbook from Futurelab. Bristol:Futurelab. www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/publications-reports-articles/handbooks/Handbook13275. For ways in which technologies can support parents’ listening to children see Byron, T (2009). The “Oh, Nothing Much” Report:The value of after-school conversation. Coventry: Becta.nextgenerationlearning.org.uk/Global/The%20Oh%20Nothing%20Much%20report%20-%2023.03.09.pdf43

Case Study 3: All Saints Roman Catholic School, YorkSTRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONSCASE STUDY 3: ALL SAINTS ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, YORK3All Saints Roman Catholic School, in York, is acomprehensive school for 11-18 year-olds withspecialisms in languages and performing arts.Just over a year ago modern foreign languages(MFL) teacher Suzi Bewell introduced the AllSaints languages blog to her classroom and inthat short period of time it has revolutionisedSuzi’s teaching practice and is responsible, inpart, for her new position as one of the SSAT’slead practitioners for languages.The decision to introduce technology wasbased on trying to capitalise on what thestudents seemed to be spending their timedoing anyway; Suzi thought it would be moreappealing to them than the traditional textbooks that have been used in MFL for decades.“I listened to the kids and they seem to beonline all the time and talking about MSN orFacebook. There was also a lot on the radioabout podcasts and blogs, so I thought ifthey were hearing that in their everyday life,I would try to use it in the classroom.”Originally the blog was used for presentingcontent in a multimedia format for class work,then as a platform to share brilliant examplesof students’ work, but now it has a much biggerimpact and creates a link between learningat school and home. The blog also includesvideo footage from activities that take placein lesson time, so parents have a window onwhat is going on in the classroom. This is a veryrare opportunity for parents who have reportedfinding it helpful to see what their children aredoing in school.The impetus for using a blog rather than theschool VLE was to extend the audience forstudents’ work beyond the school.“When a student has realised that there ispotentially a worldwide audience for theirwork, there is a certain pride. But also itraises the game and they know next time theysubmit work they need to make a real effort.”One of the challenges was in initially settingup the blog, but once it was up and runningSuzi has found it has taken on a life of its ownand over time the work has lessened as pupilscontribute their own content.As well as the blog, a wide range of web-basedtechnologies are used to link students’ schoollearning to home. Homework is set and oftencompleted online and students themselvessuggest links to online content and activitiessuch as French YouTube videos. This approachsees parents doing homework with theirchildren and students communicating with oneanother and commenting on each other’s work.Students have also been asked to respondin French to a question on Twitter or sharewhat learning a language means to them on‘Wallwisher’, a virtual notice board to which agroup can add notes, photos and videos. Thestudents produce their song and pronunciationpodcasts published in a section of the blogcalled ‘Rosbif Radio’. Many students also havetheir own ‘voki’ – a speaking online avatar thatthey use to communicate on the site.Suzi believes that the use of the blog andWeb 2.0 technology has increased her pupils’motivation – especially the boys - with morehomework completed, and much moreengagement and active involvement in learning.Links:All Saints languages blog:www.allsaintslanguagesblog.typepad.co.ukSchool website: www.allsaints.york.sch.ukWallwisher: www.wallwisher.comTwitter: www.twitter.comVoki: www.voki.com44

Case Study 4: Partners in Learning, LewishamThe Partners in Learning project was a pilotas part of the Black Pupils’ AchievementProgramme (BPAP) in Lewisham. It exploredhow the use of mobile PCs could encourageand support a relationship between the‘learning triangle’ of the teacher, learner,and the learner’s family that would improvecommunication between home and school,motivate learners and lead to higherachievement in GCSE grades.Twenty-two families and six teachersparticipated in the project. Each family andeach teacher were given a Samsung Q1 Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) – a very small and lightlaptop with wireless internet access. This wasused to support students’ and family learning,particularly in mathematics and science.The devices came equipped with RedHalosoftware which provides each student withtheir own personal learning space to storetheir work - handwritten notes from a lesson,typed homework, photographs, videos oraudio recordings. The software automaticallygenerated a web page of the student’s work,which was then accessible by the teacher.Although the project’s main aim was to raiseGSCE results for Year 11 students, in manycases it also had a positive impact for otherfamily members. There was evidence ofstudents teaching parents, of younger siblingsusing the UMPC, and of families using ittogether for other means, not just for schoolset tasks. For one mother and daughter it wasthe impetus to do some research about recyclingtogether, and to start composting at home.A parents’ page was set up for the projectwhich allowed them to communicate directlywith the school. Support for the project wasprovided in the form of face-to face workshopsfor everyone involved to learn how to use thedevices, and to share best practice and studyskills.The students in the trial used the UMPC fora number of activities including revision,homework, coursework, as well as a numberof social activities. However, the mostsignificant benefits for students were beingpart of a positive and supportive communityand the flexibility that the mobile device gavethem to carry out their homework wheneverand wherever they chose to do so. Parentsbenefited from information on how to supporttheir children, sharing experiences with otherparents, and better communication with theirchildren’s school and teacher.Links:Information about the project from HandheldLearning conference: www.handheldlearning.co.uk/content/view/47/60/Black Pupils’ Achievement Programme: www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/ethnicminorities/raising_achievement/Af_Cab_Ach_Aug04/?section=1Red Halo software: uk.ts.fujitsu.com/rl/servicesupport/techsupport/pda/LOOX-EDA/Docs/redhalo_flyer.pdfCHAPTER STRATEGIC TITTLE CONSIDERATIONSHERECHAPTER CASE STUDY SUB-TITTLE 4: PARTNERS HERE IN LEARNING, LEWISHAM3 ?© Helen Dent, 200745

STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS3.5 BOUNDARIES AND PRIVACY33.5 BOUNDARIESAND PRIVACYConnecting different identitiesThe child at home is not the same as thechild at school. The differences in ‘identity’and values between the home and school cansometimes be a source of tension. Teacherswho know something about children’s homelives can avoid unnecessary friction if theymake mistakes about parents, etc. Whenchildren know something about teachers’lives outside school this can make them seemore ‘human’ and again break down barriersin communication.Parents may not always realise their childrencan be quite different at school to how they areat home; children who at home are talkativeand lively may be quiet and reserved in school.When parents see video of their children’sclassroom, they are often most interested inthe way that their child acts in this differentenvironment, gaining a new understanding ofdifferent aspects of their children’s personality.When teachers have seen photos of children’slives and experiences outside school, it hasin some cases helped them understand thediverse range of experiences that a class ofchildren bring with them to the classroom. Inthese and other ways, digital technologies canbe used to share aspects of children’s homeand school lives with teachers and parents sothey both have a more rounded and completeunderstanding of the child 76 .“I’m a completely different person at home”(Year 8 student)Maintaining boundaries andschool-home balanceChildren are also keen to protect thedifferences between home and school, andkeep some separation between the differentspheres of their life. Certainly if any personalinformation about their home lives is to beshared with teachers at school, children wantto be the one to do it, to manage which staffand children see it, and to at least know whathas been said.“When I get home, that’s my time”(Year 10 student)Digital privacy and data securityIf digital technologies are used to connectchildren’s lives at home and at school, childrenneed to have some control over who can seewhich photos, documents, data about them,choosing privacy options at a granular level.While children will not always have the last sayabout which information is shared betweenparents and teachers, they need to at least beincluded in any communications between homeand school about them.Keeping data private and secure is arequirement of schools sharing informationabout children outside school 77 . It is alsoimportant to consider how the use of digitaltechnologies in home-school relationshipsis integrated with child protection policies.Questions of moderation, child protection,and procedures for dealing with potentialdisclosures of abuse via digital channels needto be considered.Children are also often protective of their homeas a space of relaxation, of freedom from thedemands and pressures of school, and are asconcerned with achieving a good ‘work-life’balance as many working adults are. For manychildren, time at home is ‘their’ time. Childrencan therefore resent what can be perceivedas the intrusion of school into their time athome. For example, when parents continuallyemphasise the need for revision, children feelthey are never able to be free from the pressureof exams.As many people who own email-enabledphones know, it is all too easy for digitaltechnologies to blur the boundaries betweenwork and home life. In the drive to use digitaltechnologies to support parents’ engagementwith children’s learning, there is the possibilitythat children’s home lives become increasinglydefined by school expectations. So, when digitaltechnologies are used to enable children andtheir parents to log on to school resourcesand continue school learning at home, it isworth considering how to support children andparents to achieve a good balance between thedemands of school and the need for relaxationand leisure time within the home.4676. The video and photo sharing activities here were used within the Home-School Knowledge Exchange project, see Hughes, M andGreenhough, P (2006). Boxes, bags and videotape: enhancing home-school communication through knowledge exchange activities.Educational Review - Special Issue, 58,4: 471-48777. There is a series of good practice guides describing how to keep sensitive and personal data on learners, staff and otherindividuals secure, available from Becta at schools.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=lv&catcode=ss_lv_mis_im03&rid=14734

Privacy and data securityIf digital technologies are used to connectchildren’s lives at home and at school, childrenneed to have some control over who can seewhich photos, documents, data about them,choosing privacy options at a granular level.While children will not always have the last sayabout which information is shared betweenparents and teachers, they need to at least beincluded in any communications between homeand school about them.Keeping data private and secure is arequirement of schools sharing informationabout children outside school 78 . It is alsoimportant to consider how the use of digitaltechnologies in home-school relationshipsis integrated with child protection policies.Questions of moderation, child protection,and procedures for dealing with potentialdisclosures of abuse via digital channels needto be considered.Accessibility and usabilityHow easy will parents, teachers and childrenfind it to use any software the school adopts tosupport home-school relationships? Parentsand children may have special needs includingvisual impairment or deafness, low literacylevels or keyboard skills, or have English asa second or other language that need to becatered for in the design and functionality ofany software. As a minimum, school websitesand software packages need to be designedwith accessibility in mind 79 . Usability is alsoimportant; neither parents or teachers arelikely to spend a long time learning to usecomplicated software or websites, and difficultnavigation can be a real barrier to use. Ratherthan require users to undergo a steep learningcurve, software that is more intuitive, andfollows the same conventions as popular andfamiliar applications, is likely to see more use.Questions_ Where could greater sharing of informationbetween home and school be used to developa more complete and rounded understandingof children’s learning?_ What would a healthy school-life balancelook like and how can children and parentsbe supported to maintain it?_ How can personal information be keptconfidential and secure in digital systems?CHAPTER STRATEGIC TITTLE CONSIDERATIONSHERECHAPTER 3.5 BOUNDARIES SUB-TITTLE AND PRIVACY HERE3 ?78. There is a series of good practice guides describing how to keep sensitive and personal data on learners, staff and otherindividuals secure, available from Becta at schools.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=lv&catcode=ss_lv_mis_im03&rid=1473479. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, developed by the World Wide Web consortium to provide guidance on designingaccessible websites can be found here: www.w3.org/TR/WCAG2047

STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS3.6 POSITIVE FEEDBACK33.6 POSITIVE FEEDBACKCatch them being goodTeachers, parents and children felt thatopportunities for positive feedback wereoften overlooked, and hoped that digitalcommunication strategies would facilitatemore of this.Much communication from school tohome tends to focus on negative aspects:communication is prompted when there isa concern around children’s behaviour orprogress. The data that is collected and sharedaround progress, achievement, behaviour hasa tendency to highlight problems. A pressureon time also means that communication aboutproblems tends to be prioritised as more urgentthan positive feedback. However, using digitaltechnologies might offer easier opportunitiesto send home positive messages aboutchildren’s school life.Sending positive feedback to both childrenand their parents can be more effective insupporting children’s development than aconstant stream of negative information. Whenparents only ever hear negative informationabout their child, and a child only ever hearsnegative feedback about themselves, it cancome to seem impossible that they can doanything to change the situation, and lead tofeelings of powerlessness and disengagementfrom education. Positive feedback howevercan show children and their parents that it ispossible for them to be successful at school,and give them something to build on in orderto develop further. Reinforcing praise at schoolwith praise from parents at home can builda virtuous circle that builds children’s selfesteem,showing their efforts are recognisedand valued by both teachers and parents, andhelps them envisage positive future scenarios 80 .Digital technologies could support theexchange of positive feedback in a number ofways. Showing examples of children’s goodwork, whether that be written documents,photos and artworks, music and videorecordings, allows others to see exactlywhat the praise is for, and allows teachersto model how to give praise for children’sefforts and positive learning behaviour aswell as achievement.“[Positive feedback] is just really nice,cos [my son seems] very confident buthe’s got really low self esteem. So whenhe gets things like that you know it’sreally like ‘that’s brill, well done’. And youknow it might just build him up a little bit,it just gives him a bit of, you know, puffdoesn’t it?” (Parent)Parents are often pleasantly surprised by thequality of the work children complete in school.Giving positive feedback is often overlookedas it is time consuming and not always a highpriority. Digital technologies could providereminders to look for opportunities to providepositive feedback and can make the process ofsending feedback quicker and easier. Parentscan receive feedback during the day by text oremail, so that they know by the time childrencome home from school. Positive feedbackcould also be automatically recorded on achild’s profile, so they can look back at theirachievements over time.Positive feedback from outside the classroomPositive feedback should take account of thesmall efforts that may not usually be remarkedupon and non-academic achievements, as wellas their achievements within class. Children’smembership of the school council, theirparticipation and achievements in school clubs,their contributions to the life of the school canall be matters for positive feedback to bothchild and parents.Positive feedback can also travel from thehome to the school. While children are oftenembarrassed by public praise, and may notwant to share some aspects of out-of-schoollife, having their out-of-school achievementsacknowledged within school allows forchildren to see that school cares about theirlearning, development and success in abroader context, not just in terms of their examresults, and can allow teachers and childrento make connections between their skills andachievements outside school and those neededto succeed within school.4880. Chesterton College in Cambridge communicates with parents via text message, applying a policy that for every negative messagesent, they will send at least three positive messages.

Children themselves may also play a significantrole in sharing positive achievements betweenhome and school, showing and sharing theachievements they themselves feel proud ofwith parents and teachers. While children arereluctant to be seen as ‘boasting’ and may notwant to show themselves as ‘swots’ in frontof peers, they may be able to share details ofpositive experiences with parents and teachersin a low-key manner.The hard currency of praiseIn order to have an effect, praise needs to havesome value and currency in the eyes of thosewho receive it. An automated message to anentire class is unlikely to have the same valueas a personally written message to a singlechild. Making praise personal, referring veryspecifically to why positive feedback is beinggiven, and is couched in personal terms, forexample “I would like to praise you for yourefforts in...” increases its value. Technologiescan make it easier and faster to give positivefeedback through automating some aspects,but losing the personal and specific aspectswould be likely to undermine the effect of givingpraise at all, so a balance needs to be struck.Questions_ Can positive behaviour and achievement betracked and monitored to ensure that it doesnot go unrecognised, and as a prompt tolook for positives outside the groups ofusual suspects?_ Can digital communication systems be usedto quickly and easily send messages homeabout children’s achievements?_ In what ways can children and parentsshare positive achievements from their livesoutside school?_ How can positive feedback retaincurrency value?Learning platformsLearning platforms (LPs) come in a widevariety of forms. They are sometimesreferred to as learning gateways, VLEs (Virtuallearning Environments) and MLEs (Managedlearning Environments).Learning platforms offer a combination ofservices available over a network such as aschool intranet or the internet. Staff, childrenand parents log in with a password to accessa range of different services and resources.These are individual to each school, buttypically include pupil information, onlinelearning resources, pupils’ work files andcommunications tools.Learning platforms can allow pupils to:_ access learning material outsidethe classroom_ submit homework and assignments formarking and assessment_ store work and notes in their own personallearning space_ take part in live discussions with otherpupils and teachers.Children can also use learning platformsto upload and share work they are proud ofwith parents and teachers, taking someownership of their own digital space on thelearning platform.For parents, learning platforms can providecommunication tools and opportunities tofeed into consultations, give them access toinformation about the school and their child’sprogress at school, making it possible forparents to ‘log on’ to see the latest news aboutthe school or their child, which can be filteredfor relevance to that particular parent.STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS3.6 POSITIVE FEEDBACK349

Case Study 5: Monkseaton High School, NewcastleSTRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONSCASE STUDY 5: MONKSEATON HIGH SCHOOL, NEWCASTLE3Serving urban communities in the area aroundNewcastle, Monkseaton is a medium-sizedschool with approximately 800 students aged13 to 19. It was the first Trust school, and itsInnovation Trust aims to improve educationthrough the application of new technologiesand scientific discoveries to learning. Microsoftis a key partner in the Trust.The school focuses on personalising learningfor students and involving parents. Digitaltools are used to collect and analyse dataabout students, support personalised learningstrategies in and out-of-school, createenvironments for collaboration betweenstudents, and to involve parents in theirchildren’s learning.Three years ago, the school developed a webportal based on SharePoint to engage parentsin their child’s education. Parents are able toaccess all of the relevant information the schoolhas on their child, including attendance, testscores, self assessments, timetables, teachercomments, health data, and performancetargets. They can also find student and staffcalendars, announcements, web links, andparent consultation surveys and can emailmessages to teachers. To protect studentprivacy, the school gives out account settingsand passwords to parents in person. To supportparents in making use of this service, the schooloffers training in how to navigate the portal.According to Simon Thompson, AssistantHead, the portal has been received positivelyby parents and has increased parentalinvolvement and satisfaction at Monkseaton.Parents, teachers, and students are workingtogether to support student progress, andenhance achievement:“Each week, parents can read messagesfrom up to six or seven different subjectteachers, telling them how their childexcelled on a homework assignment orparticipated in a lesson or presentation.”“They can see the lesson resources theirchild is working on, the presentations, theassignments. Those are the things thatparents really want to know—and not justonce at the end of year.”Monkseaton is now introducing the use ofOneNote for use in the home following itssuccessful use within lessons. OneNote is asoftware package that allows users to savemultiple data formats such as video, images,written notes, files and web links in one placeand collaborate with multiple other users.The idea is that parents will be able tocontribute to and collaborate with theirchildren’s school and homework through theuse of shared OneNote notebooks.Links:School website: www.monkseaton.org.uk/Pages/Home.aspxMicrosoft Case Study films: www.microsoft.com/uk/education/schools/engaging-withparents.aspxInnovation Trust: www.monkseaton.org.uk/innovation_trust/Pages/InnovationTrust.aspxSharePoint: office.microsoft.com/en-gb/sharepointserver/default.aspxOneNote: office.microsoft.com/en-gb/onenote/FX100487701033.aspx50

Case Study 6: Nottingham High SchoolNottingham High School is an independentboys’ school for ages 7-18. In the modernforeign languages (MFL) department, the useof internet tools and applications to supportlearning is prolific. The activity is spearheadedby José Picardo, head of languages at theschool, who fervently believes in:“making education compatible with theneeds and expectations of students throughthe effective use of technology”.José uses Edmodo as a closed socialnetwork in his classes to set work, provideaccess to resources, present work, discussand communicate – both amongst studentsthemselves and between students and teachers.“It acts like a mini VLE, but it’s not asverbose as a VLE - it’s a lot less school likeand students nag other teachers to use it.”The significant use of interactive technologyin the MFL department started as “a reactionto kids’ use of Web 2.0 tools” which, accordingto José, was especially motivating to pupilsin an all boys’ school. Alongside Edmodo, arange of Web 2.0 applications are used suchas Xtranormal (creating 3D movies fromtext), Glogster (create and share multimediaposters), and Go Animate (animated cartoonmaker) to support teaching and learning in boththe classroom and at home.The school also recently created a blog (usingsimple blogging site ‘posterous’) to accompanya trip to Germany. Students made a video eachday and uploaded it for parents to view andcomment on.José sees many advantages to using Web 2.0tools. They can be more accessible as they arefree to use and available on the web (not allstudents had access to PowerPoint or MicrosoftOffice at home for instance). Tasks can bestarted at school and finished at home or viceversa. A further advantage is that students cancollaborate or contribute to the same piece ofwork, comment on each other’s contributionsand have conversations around their work andthere is then a record of these conversations torefer back to.The use of web applications such as GoAnimateand Xtranormal in school was quite a challengeto begin with, as the school’s internet safetysoftware automatically deemed them ‘unsafe’and blocked access to them. José also foundthat children needed to be educated about notgiving too much information away online.Links:Nottingham High School’s website:www.nottinghamhigh.co.ukMFL website at Nottingham High:www.nottinghamhighmfl.co.ukJose Picardo’s blog: www.boxoftricks.netField trip diary on Posterous:fieldtripdiary.posterous.comEdmodo social network -www.boxoftricks.net/?p=432Posterous: posterous.comXtranormal: www.xtranormal.comGlogster: edu.glogster.comGo Animate: goanimate.comSTRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONSCASE STUDY 6: NOTTINGHAM HIGH SCHOOL351

STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS3.7 LEARNING FROM THE HOME33.7 LEARNINGFROM THE HOMESeeing the bigger pictureChildren learn in different ways in manydifferent contexts, both in and outside theschool setting, drawing on a wide range of theresources they find available to them. Outsideschool, children may be engaged on their ownprojects and hobbies, producing artwork, digitalmedia and writing, pursuing their own intereststhrough reading, internet research and TV,participating in extra-curricular activities suchas music, sport and drama, learning life skillssuch as cooking and managing their money,as well as less tangible learning includingdeveloping social skills, making moral choices,and developing self-resilience. As a pervasivepart of our culture, digital technologies areoften heavily implicated in the learning thatchildren engage in outside school, usingtechnologies to create and access mediaand communicate with others. Because it isquite different to the ways in which childrenlearn at school, it is often easy for childrenthemselves, as well as teachers and parents,to overlook the learning involved in many ofchildren’s out-of-school experiences. However,helping children recognise the knowledge,skills and understanding that they gain outsideschool can mean they have a greater rangeof resources and strategies on which to drawwhen encountering new learning experiencesboth in and outside school.“[My son] tends to do more arty things …he’ll like go onto a thing where he canmake models ... he makes films andeverything.” (Parent)Understanding how and what children learnoutside school can also help the school developa bigger picture of how particular childrenlearn and what their strengths and skillsare outside the academic context. Teachers’understanding of how particular children learn,their strengths and what motivates them canbe enhanced by including the out-of-schoolas well as the in-school context, and they canuse this understanding to consider how thiswider understanding of children’s lives canbe capitalised upon within the school and tosupport more personalised learning.Tapping into familiar digitalpracticesTapping into the technologies that children andtheir families enjoy and feel confident using islikely to see greater returns that introducingnew technologies for which they will havea steeper learning curve. Text messagingand email may be some of the most familiartechnologies, but it also worth considering ifpeople are already familiar with using socialnetwork sites, blogging and micro-bloggingsites like Twitter and whether these could formpart of a home-school relationships strategy.Integrating with websites and services thatparents and children already use is likely tomore quickly get them using these technologiesto engage with the school. A technology andskills audit of parents and children can revealthe skills that it is possible to draw upon, and toidentify any training needs people might have inorder to make full use of the technologiesbeing used.Bringing together learning fromhome and schoolAs discussed above, bringing aspects ofchildren’s out-of-school and in-schoolexperiences (their ‘funds of knowledge’)together to form a ‘third space’ that includeselements of both, can help bridge the gapbetween home and school, and give rise to newknowledge and ways of knowing that draws onaspects from many areas of children’s lives.This is not just importing children’s homelearning experiences into the school, butfinding ways to bring them into ‘conversation’with each other, selecting aspects that caninform, challenge and reshape children’s homeand school knowledges. Children’s use ofdigital technologies and familiarity with digitalmedia forms are one significant area in whichtheir out-of-school learning experiences maybe productively brought into conversation withtheir school learning experiences. Children’sfamilies and the local community are also asource of experience and expertise that canbe brought into the school, making furtherconnections between children’s lives outsideschool and their learning in the classroom.52

“I’m writing a book ... I’ve started to read alot and I’m getting ideas from the books thatI read like Harry Potter and stuff like that.Most of my friends [know I’m writing it butI do not think teachers could help] becusethey haven’t written books.” (Year 8 student)Parental engagement without-of-school learningParents can be involved in children’s outof-schoollearning in a wide range of ways,from talking to children about their lives,to introducing them to new experiences,providing encouragement and motivation, topractical support such as providing equipment,transport, and practise time. Parents andchildren both value the learning and activitiesthat children do outside school for its ownsake, as complementing what children learn inschool, and as potentially useful for children’seducation and careers beyond school.At home, parents “cheered you on andstuff” to encourage out of school learning.(Year 10 student)Parents’ involvement in children’s learningat home is bound up with the emotionalrelationship between parent and child. Childrencare deeply about what their parents think ofthem, and one of parents’ most appreciatedroles is in encouraging and motivating children.Efforts to support parents’ engagement inchildren’s learning at home have tended to bemore successful when they have focused onreinforcing and developing positive aspects ofwhat parents already do with their children, andgiving them access to new strategies and ideasthey can adapt for themselves, rather thandirectly ‘teaching’ parents how to help theirchildren learn 81 . Understanding how parentssupport children’s out-of-school learningcould help schools build on these aspects ofthe parent-child relationship in their effortsto promote parental engagement in children’sschool learning.Questions_ What knowledge, skills and understandingare children learning outside school? In whatways do they learn, what are their strengthsand motivations outside school?_ Can children and parents be supported torecognise and value the learning they dooutside school?_ In what ways could aspects of children’sknowledge and skills from theirout-of-school learning be brought intothe curriculum?_ What do parents do to support theirchildren’s out-of-school learning? Are thereways that the school can support parents todevelop these existing practices to supportschool-related learning?STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS3.7 LEARNING FROM THE HOME381. Interview with Laurie Day, Ecotec Research, about the ‘Learning at home, Learning at school’ study. For the full report of this studysee Day, L, Williams, J, and Fox, J (2009). Supporting parents with their children’s ‘at home’ learning and development (ResearchReport DCSF-RR138). DCSF.53

STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS3.8 TAKING LEARNING HOME33.8 TAKINGLEARNING HOMEA bigger picture of the curriculumChildren’s learning at school is intended toequip them with the skills, knowledge andunderstanding that will give them opportunitiesfor personal fulfilment, participation in societyand access to rewarding employment andeducation opportunities. However, the contentof the school curriculum can seem distantand unconnected to children’s lives andlearning experiences outside school; or theirfuture aspirations and gaining qualificationscan come to be seen as simply a proceduralactivity to access the next stage of educationor employment without any inherent valueor relevance to what they have learnt. If thecontent of the curriculum is intended to enablechildren to be active citizens, participate insociety, be creative, critical and reflective in theirworking and personal lives, then considerationneeds to be given to how to approach thecurriculum in creative ways that addresses thereal challenges, aspirations and cultures thatchildren experience outside school 82 .Continuing learning in the home contextJust as children do not leave their out-ofschoollives behind when they enter school,they do not entirely leave their school learningexperiences behind when they go home. Indeed,children are expected to spend some of theirtime at home continuing and consolidating theirschool learning through homework, and thereis an increasing expectation that parents willengage with children’s learning at home.“I’ve got my place in her life and makingsure that she does her homework, [...]making sure that she’s got the necessarybooks and pens and paper. Where thelearning’s concerned I’m not qualified tounderstand it in the first place.” (Parent)E-safetyWith children increasingly using computers andthe internet at home to support their learning,and schools using digital technologies tocommunicate with parents, schools have a roleto play in ensuring that children and parentsremain safe online, even outside school.Parents’ concerns about their children’s safetyonline may mean they spend more time andeffort policing children’s use of technology thangetting involved with their learning 83 . Manyschools offer workshops for parents, often aspart of parents’ evenings, introducing parentsto the kinds of technologies that young peopleoften use, their benefits and the potential safetyimplications. While parents may be intimidatedby their children’s seemingly competent graspof technologies, children often do not have theexperience to consider the ethical and safetyimplications of their own and others’ behaviour.Parents and children will also need to besupported to consider the safety implicationsof the technologies used in the home – such asgames consoles with internet access, mobilephones, camcorders – that are more rarelyused in schools 84 .Many parents are unsure exactly what isexpected of them or how best they can help.Schools therefore need to consider what theycan do to support parents to take on thisrole. Many parents feel unqualified to takeon the role of ‘teacher’, and appreciate theopportunity to learn about the content beingstudied and how it is taught. However, the mostsuccessful strategies for developing parents’engagement with children’s learning developand reinforce the positive things that parentsalready do, rather than requiring them to takeon completely new roles. While parents may notbe in a position to take on the role of teacher,they can support learning by showing childrenhow they can work things out for themselves,talking to children about their learning andmodelling pro-learning values and attitudes.5482. For an approach to curriculum that takes children’s concerns and experiences as a driver of children’s enquiry-led learning, seeFuturelab’s Enquiring Minds project, including CPD materials and resources for classroom use at www.enquiringminds.org.uk83. Hollingworth, S, Allen, K, Kuyok, AK, Mansaray, A and Page, A (2009). An exploration of parents’ engagement with their children’slearning involving technologies and the impact of this in their family learning experiences. Becta. Available from:partners.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=rh&catcode=_re_mr_02&rid=1715284. Think You Know (www.thinkuknow.co.uk) and Know IT All (www.childnet-int.org/kia) both provide a wealth of information forschools, parents and children about e-safety and the risks and benefits of young people’s online participation.

Parents’ role in supporting children’s learningis bound up with the intimate relationshipbetween parents and children, and it is thisthat makes parents’ encouragement andinterest in children’s learning such a powerfulfactor. Children care deeply about what theirparents think of them, and rely on parentsto provide emotional support to perseverewhen things are difficult, so parents’encouragement, expectations and interestin their learning is important in supportingchildren’s belief in themselves as confidentand successful learners.School websitesSchool websites serve a number of purposesand audiences, including communicatingto parents of current pupils, parents ofprospective pupils and the wider community.For returning visitors, such as parents ofcurrent pupils, information needs to be bothreliable and frequently updated, or they willstop using the site. Integration with existingupdating services used by parents and childrencould be considered, for example linking tosocial network sites such as Facebook, microbloggingsites like Twitter, and the use of RSSto feed updates from the school website toother sites.“Mum tries to talk my language but shenever can.” (Year 8 student)If parents knew more about what happenedat school “it would probably make themunderstand me more ... and understandwhat I’m going through at school”.(Year 8 student)Providing online access to information forparents is never the end of the story; it isimportant to consider what action they are ableto take as a result. For example, if parents haveaccess to information about children’s levels ofattainment, how can they be given informationto use this as a basis for a constructiveconversation with children, and if necessaryinvolving the school. When parents haveongoing access to information about children’sprogress and behaviour, this can change thenature of the conversation between parentsand teachers, moving away from teachersgiving parents news, to a more productiveconversation focused on what teachers,parents and children can do to supportchildren’s learning.“You worry about what they [parents]think about you more than anyone”(Year 10 student)STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS3.8 TAKING LEARNING HOME3Prompting conversations aboutlearning at homeParents and children talking about school andlearning is one of the main ways that parentscommunicate their interest in and expectationsof children’s learning. However, parents andchildren often find it difficult to talk to oneanother about school. Children want parentsto know about what they are going throughat school, but often feel that parents don’tunderstand and nag them, while parents oftencomplain that children tell them very little.Giving parents access to more informationabout the school day online helps them to askmore specific questions, rather than simply‘how was school today’, which often helpsto facilitate more productive conversations.Schools can consider how to use a range ofdigital channels to provide information toparents that goes beyond simply ‘reporting’ butprompts a conversation between children andparents about their learning.Questions_ In what ways can the school curriculumbe presented and developed to closelyengage with children’s concerns, theirfuture aspirations, and issues in the localcommunity?_ What support could be given to parents tohelp them engage with children’s schoolrelatedlearning at home in ways that buildon the relationship and existing positiveactivities they already do?_ What guidance will parents and childrenneed in order to understand, interpretand act upon information about children’sbehaviour, progress and school day? Howcan the school provide information in a formthat provokes constructive conversationsbetween parents and children and teachers?55

Case Study 7: Djanogly City Academy, NottinghamSTRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONSCASE STUDY 7: DJANOGLY CITY ACADEMY, NOTTINGHAM3Djanogly City Academy in Nottingham caters for1800 students aged 11-19 and was in the firstwave of twelve academies to open in England.The school’s specialism is information andcommunication technology (ICT). ICTs havebeen used extensively in school to supportteaching and learning for many years withthe school named as “a consistent beacon ofexcellence” in Becta’s 2008 ICT Excellenceawards. Increasingly the school is harnessingtechnology to support relationships andconversations between teachers and parentsand between students and parents aroundstudents’ achievements and progress in school,effectively strengthening the links betweenschool and home.Djanogly’s e-portal is accessible to all studentsand all parents via the school’s learninggateway. Parents can access this fromhome or anywhere where there is an internetconnection. They can access information abouttheir child, their timetable, attendance recordsetc and ‘student events’. These are positiveand negative behaviour events that are loggedby teachers on a regular basis for example,‘John worked really well today with the studentteacher and produced some brilliant workon the Statue of Liberty’. All assessmentdata and reports are available too. Parentsno longer have to wait until the end of termto get feedback on their children’s progress,behaviour, achievements – this information isavailable on a week by week/daily basis andthey are able to email teachers directly.The e-portal is useful for administrative tasks,but more importantly it is also used as a toolto support students’ learning beyond theclassroom and to provide a window for parentson what their children are doing in school.Parents can see what students are doing inclass and many resources are available online.Each student has their own ‘My Documents’page to store their work, so they are able toshow anyone what they are currently workingon. “Quite often students are really proud ofsomething they’ve created at school” says MattBuxton, Leader of curriculum and learningtechnologies at Djanogly, “…now they can showtheir Grandmother when they go to visit her atthe weekend rather than having to wait until theend of the school year”.The school sees the technology asunderpinning the learning-relatedconversations which occur both betweenparent and child, and parent and school. Theinformation available both facilitates andstimulates these conversations.Links:School website: www.djanogly.notts.sch.uk/default.aspxSchool’s ICT information: www.djanogly.notts.sch.uk/C7/ICT/default.aspxBBC video report: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7958997.stmTeachers TV video about the school: www.teachers.tv/video/22156

Case Study 8: Charlton School, GreenwichCharlton School is a Group 7 CommunitySpecial School for students aged 11–19 withlow incidence special educational needs.The school is committed to using new andemerging technologies to support its students’learning and is keen to explore new ideas andtools for learning. The digital video profilesproject has now been running for six yearsand the use of video and associatedtechnologies is now utilised across thewhole school and curriculum.A ‘digital video profile’ (DV) holds informationabout each individual student and takes theform of an interactive DVD with a combinationof video, photos, text information with amenu to navigate through the content. Eachstudent is involved in designing, deciding whatinformation to include and creating their ownDV profile. The project has provided a visualway for students to celebrate their strengthsand achievements and provided a medium inwhich to voice their own aspirations and needs.It has helped to build confidence, self esteemand prepare the students for life changes andtransition from school. The DV profiles are alsoa useful tool for students to reflect on theirown achievements and progress. With videofiles accessible on demand they can reliveexperiences, evaluate their performance, anddecide what their goals are going forward.These DV profiles have provided an effectivecommunication tool, giving Charlton studentsan active role in educating others in meetingtheir often complex needs – both in schooland in their wider lives. Students get a lot outof putting their DV profile together, but oncecomplete it can also be used to communicate,educate and inform others about themselves.For parents with English as a second languageit is an accessible way of sharing informationabout their child. The profiles have provena very effective way of mapping a student’sprogress and then sharing this with significantothers in their lives, effectively bringingstudents, parents and professionals together.Links:School website:www.charltonschool.comInformation on DV profiles:www.charltonschool.com/resources/Profiles.htmSTRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONSCASE STUDY 8: CHARLTON SCHOOL, GREENWICH357

4. CONCLUSIONIt is hoped this handbook will remain a usefulreference point as schools develop strategies tosupport the home-school relationship. A usefulstarting point may be for school staff to discussas a group how each consideration plays out intheir particular school context and within theirlocal communities. Case studies provide real-world examples of how schools are alreadyusing technologies to support the home-schoolrelationship. School staff could identify whichaspects of the practice identified within thesecase studies they would like to adapt withintheir own context.This handbook has set out a policy, researchand theoretical context to support educators tothink about the importance of the home-schoolrelationship for children’s learning. A numberof strategic considerations that schools arelikely to face as they develop strategies tosupport home-school relationships usingdigital technologies have been set out toprovide practical support for school staff.Page 01

The following overarching key points andquestions could be used as challenges to guidediscussion amongst school staff, parents andchildren, with reference to the considerationsand other resources within this handbook._ The business of supporting children’s learningcannot stop at the school’s walls. Schoolsare just one, very significant, resource thatchildren draw on to support their learning.How can schools enable children to connectand draw from all the resources forlearning they have at their disposal?_ Children have an active role in mediatingthe relationship between home and schooland involving their parents in their learning.Children therefore need to be consideredas at the heart of any strategies to supporthome-school relationships and parents’engagement in children’s learning.How can children’s voices be listenedto and how can they be supported totake responsibility within the homeschoolrelationship?_ Children need to be able to make meaningfulconnections between their learning atschool and their lived experiences in theirhome cultures. This is not about justmaking learning directly ‘relevant’ but aboutequipping children with the knowledge andunderstanding to live and effect agency intheir local and global communities.How can schools support children tocreate spaces that draw on knowledgeand practices from home as well asfrom school?_ Transplanting school practices of teachingand learning into the home environmentis unlikely to fit easily with parents’ skillsand the cultures of home, while valuing anddeveloping home practices may be moresuccessful.How can schools find out about the ways inwhich children learn at home and in theirfamilies, and build this knowledge intolearning activities to undertake inthe home?_ To work together, teachers, parentsand children need to have some sharedexpectations of their own, and each others’,roles and responsibilities. Teachers, parentsand children are not homogenous groups andeach will have different priorities.How can schools engage with parentsand children in a more explicit process ofnegotiation and consultation to developclear, shared expectations of one another?_ The home-school relationship is coreto children’s learning and needs to beembedded within the whole school strategy.How can an understanding of the natureand importance of the school-homerelationship inform the work of theschool, including how the curriculum istaught, pastoral care, extra-curriculardevelopment and behaviour strategies?CONCLUSION459

5. TOOLS AND RESOURCESThis section provides links to digital tools,guidance materials and useful organisationsthat can support schools using digitaltechnologies in parental engagement andhome-school relationships strategies.Page 01

There are few available resources that addresshome-school relationships in the wider sensethat we have discussed here; the following toolsand resources focus on parental engagementin children’s learning and communicationwith parents.For information about the Home Access grantsavailable to families on low income to buycomputer and internet packages, seewww.homeaccess.org.ukThink You Know and Know IT All both providea wealth of information for schools, parentsand children about e-safety and the risks andbenefits of young people’s online participationwww.thinkuknow.co.ukwww.childnet-int.org/kiaBecta have produced two online reportingtoolkits to support schools to meet theexpectations for online reporting and use ICTto support parental engagement in children’slearning.The secondary toolkit is available from:publications.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=38170.The primary toolkit is available from:publications.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=39669The EPRA Secondaries toolkit provides anonline self evaluation framework to enableschools to improve their engagement withparents.www.ssatrust.org.uk/achievement/eca/Pages/Engagingparentsinraisingachievement.aspxFor more examples of schools usingtechnologies to support parents’ engagementin children’s learning see case studies from theSpecialist Schools and Academies Trust ICTRegister at:www.ict-register.net/pe-schools.phpand from Microsoft at:innovativeschoolsonline.com/casestudies/default.aspxBecta’s Harnessing Technology channel onYouTube has a playlist of videos featuringschools using technologies to improve thequality of discussion between parents and theirchildren about their education.www.youtube.com/user/harnessingtechnology#g/c/EEBEB4ECA156BBDAA free Google docs presentation created byteachers about encouraging families to visitschool blogsdocs.google.com/present/edit?id=0Ad­IjWyserhSYWg5c2pwaGd2bnQ5XzI1Y2Jtd2QzZzI&hl=enLearning and Teaching Scotland has a wealthof resources about parental engagement,including a toolkit for schools.www.ltscotland.org.uk/parentsaspartnersinlearning/index.aspThe BBC provides online learning activitiesfor parents and children to do together, andsupport for parents to engage with children’seducation.www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parentsThe Learning at home, Learning at schoolproject ran over two years from 2007-09, toidentify how schools can support parentswith their children’s “at home” learning anddevelopment. Project reports and informationabout the approaches trialled can be found ontheir website.www.learning-hs.org.uk/default.aspBecta’s ‘Parents as partners’ websiteprovides further case studies of schools usingtechnologies to communicate with parents andresources for schools to structure their journeytowards parental involvement.nextgenerationlearning.org.uk/At-School/Parents-as-partnersTOOLS AND RESOURCES561

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About FuturelabFuturelab is an independent not-for-profitorganisation that is dedicated to transformingteaching and learning, making it more relevantand engaging to 21 st century learners throughthe use of innovative practice and technology.We have a long track record of researching anddemonstrating innovative uses of technologyand aim to support systemic change ineducation – and we are uniquely placedto bring together those with an interest inimproving education from the policy, industry,research and practice communities to do this.Futurelab cannot do this work on its own. Werely on funding and partners from across theeducation community – policy, practice, localgovernment, research and industry - to realisethe full potential of our ideas, and so continueto create systemic change in education tobenefit all learners.About BectaBecta is the government agency leading thenational drive to ensure the effective andinnovative use of technology throughoutlearning. It is our ambition to utilise thebenefits of technology to create a moreexciting, rewarding and successful experiencefor learners of all ages and abilities, enablingthem to achieve their potential. We do this inmany ways. We make sure the right technologyis available, we influence the development ofpolicy, and we set standards and provide toolsthat help establish and promote best practice.We know that technology has the potentialto transform learning. We are committed toinspiring education providers to realise thatpotential, and equip learners for Britain’sfuture success.Also from FuturelabLiterature Reviews and Research ReportsWritten by leading academics, these publicationsprovide comprehensive surveys of research andpractice in a range of different fields.HandbooksDrawing on Futurelab’s in-house R&Dprogramme as well as projects from aroundthe world, these handbooks offer practicaladvice and guidance to support the design anddevelopment of new approaches to education.Opening Education SeriesFocusing on emergent ideas in education andtechnology, this series of publications opensup new areas for debate and discussion.

www.futurelab.org.ukFuturelab1 Canons RoadHarboursideBristol BS1 5UHUnited Kingdomtel: +44 (0)117 915 8200fax: +44 (0)117 915 8201email: info@futurelab.org.ukblog: flux.futurelab.org.ukwww.futurelab.org.ukRegistered charity 1113051This handbook is available to download free ofcharge from www.futurelab.org.uk/handbooks.